A Co Antrim couple have revealed that their "miracle" conjoined twins have finally been separated following successful surgery.
Hannah and Dan Bateson, from Toomebridge, first found out their daughters were conjoined twins in a 12-week scan last year.
Babies Annabelle and Isabelle Bateson, who are one in just 2.5million, were born safely six months ago.
The babes were attached from the chest to the pelvis and shared a bladder, bowel and a fused leg - but had separate hearts.
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Proud parents Hannah and Dan have been together for 14 years, married for six and have faced a tough road to becoming parents.
The couple, both aged in their early 30s, welcomed their daughters into the world in March.
Hannah, an NHS support worker, previously revealed how she and her two children caught Covid shortly after leaving hospital.
The separation surgery had originally been planned for the end of May but was put back due to the illness and later delayed again because of staff holidays over the summer months until September.
The couple have also spoken of their struggle to conceive and how they were shocked when they first found out they were pregnant. Hannah was referred to London’s University College Hospital, where the babies were delivered by a specialist team.
From there, they were transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital, the leading specialist hospital in Europe for separating conjoined twins, where the operation took place this week.
In a post on social media on Wednesday, the couple revealed that their conjoined twins have now been separated.
"Annie and Issie have been separated. It was a very long day, their surgery lasted until the early hours of Tuesday morning but our wee girlies did so well," they said.
"There is a long recovery in front of them and we expect there to be some bumps along the way but they are strong wee ladies and are being well cared for.
"I just want to say THANK YOU, the love we have been shown has been completely overwhelming and the prayers that have been said for them have carried us through. The team that carried out the girls surgery are just amazing and we are very grateful.
"Please continue to pray for their recovery, for healing and for them to be as comfortable as possible. Thank you God for having your hand on our daughters."
Appearing on ITV's This Morning earlier this year, Hannah and Dan recalled the moment they found out they were having twins.
Hannah said: “The midwife kept it very very calm at that point she told us it was twins, but that we should see the consultant at the local hospital. We knew they were concerned but we were referred then to fetal medicine in Belfast.
“That’s when we were told [the twins were conjoined]. It never dawned on us that was going to be a possibility. As we were doing this scan, it dawned on both of us. Before the consultant even said and I asked, 'Are they conjoined?' and he said, 'Yes I think they are.'"
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