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Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata, kissed by mother, Elysse. Photo credit: Allen Kramer for Texas Children’s Hospital
Mata and her husband John became the parents of Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata. She says her heart skipped a beat following a routine exam.
“January 13, went to the ultrasound to find out the gender, and that’s when we found out we had two babies and that they were conjoined,” said Mata. “It was very shocking. It was heartbreaking at first.”
After the initial shock, she says the news got better, and the babies are now developing their own personality.
“Miss Hope is very feisty and rambunctious and always talking, always smiling,” said Mata. “Little Miss Faith is very quiet and very mellow. She’s got these big brown eyes, that she looks at you and you’re just like…ohhh.”
The twins weighed almost four pounds each and were delivered by Cesarean section at 31 weeks. They now weigh over 10 pounds each.
The two share a liver, diaphragm, pericardial sac or lining of the heart and intestines. Dr. Stephen Welty, chief of neonatology at Texas Children’s, says the team is preparing the twins for eventual separation.
“There’s not anything that’s going on that’s medically pushing us as a team to separate them really early,” said Welty. “They’ve been doing beautifully with no surgical therapy at this point. So now, we’re going to put them in the position to be very healthy, when they get their separation.”
No date has been set, but the Mata family and the care team’s goal right now is for the babies to continue to grow and gain weight.