A Santa Maria Valley couple who shared their story of expecting conjoined twins is recovering after the birth and death of their baby girls on Thursday.
Francisco Romero tells KSBY News that Willow and Evangelene were delivered by C-section at 8:55 a.m. on May 2. The surgery had been moved up a few weeks because of an accumulation of amniotic fluid that doctors said could put mom, Natalie, at risk.
Francisco says the babies survived for about four-and-a-half hours.
Natalie is reportedly doing well but is expected to remain at UCLA Medical Center for a few days to recover.
The Romeros say they didn’t learn Natalie was pregnant with conjoined twins until about five months into her pregnancy.
“We just ended up deciding just to continue with the pregnancy because, at the time, I could feel them even though it was still early. So they were alive inside of me and it just didn’t feel right to go through with the termination,” Natalie told KSBY News in April.
The girls were joined at the torso and shared a heart. They had four legs, two arms, and two heads.
