World News for Students of English

22-05-2014 07:00

These identical twin girls were born holding hands after surviving a life-threatening condition.

Best friends already, baby Jenna and Jillian were delivered by C-section in Ohio last Friday, after their mother Sarah had spent 57 days on bed rest and constant monitoring.

These heart-warming pictures followed a difficult nine months for the parents. The little girls were monoamniotic twins, which is an extremely rare condition in which twins share the same amniotic sac and placenta. It is the rarest type of twinning, and one with the highest risk.

The biggest risk is entanglement of the umbilical cords, which naturally twist and tangle in the same amniotic sac. Severe entanglement could cut off blood to one twin and causes death in 10 to 70 per cent of pregnancies.

But for Jenna and Jillian it was a happy ending. The little ones have now been removed from ventilators, and are said to be breathing comfortably on their own. To Mum and Dad’s delight, when the doctors lifted the babies to show to them, the girls had grabbed onto each other’s hands. Mother Sarah was even able to hold them just in time for Mother’s Day.

Difficult words: C-section (when the mother’s belly is cut to take the baby out), amniotic sac placenta (liquid that surrounds the baby while it lives inside the mother), (“bag” inside the mother’s body where the baby is), entanglement (being twisted together), umbilical cord (line between the mother and the baby), tangle (twist together), ventilator (machine for breathing), delight (pleasure).

Source: www.itn.co.uk