CHELSEA TORRES: Kids will come up and just like look at them a little bit and they’ll just say, ‘Are they stuck?’
And then I’m just like, they got stuck inside the tummy and now they’re here and this is what happens.
CHELSEA TORRES: First we kind of take a peek to make sure they’re really awake.
Carter likes to sleep more than Callie does. But Carter will pop back up.
CHELSEA TORRES: Callie and Carter are Omphalo-Ischiopagus conjoined twins, meaning that they share
from the stomach down into the pelvis area. It takes two people normally to wash them.
CHELSEA TORRES: This part is Callie’s, this part is Carter’s, their blood supply clashes together like
two waves into one body. They have separate hearts, separate stomachs, separate heads of course,
and what else they have separate? NICK TORRES: Personalities.
CHELSEA TORRES: Personalities, they have separate personalities.
CHELSEA TORRES: It’s Jaysin’s first day at school. This is actually our first time without brother for a couple of
hours, usually they have brother to play with.
CHELSEA TORRES: That’s where we can see their little faces a little bit. This is the first ultrasound we had,
this is the day that we found out that they were possibly conjoined. July 15th, I do believe ten weeks, some two or
three days as well. That’s when we 100% found out that they were conjoined was in this picture.
NICK TORRES: Just kind of like, flipped us upside down. CHELSEA TORRES: Yeah!
CHELSEA TORRES: They told us that they had Hydrops which kills almost all the babies that get it, so.
NICK TORRES: The very, very beginning we thought abortion would be the best option. No one wants to,
you know, carry their kids for nine months just to have them die.
NICK TORRES: We didn't. We stuck with our gut and here we are.
CHELSEA TORRES: This is the first picture we ever got of them face to face. There is a face right here,
another face right here. This was Carter right here.
CHELSEA TORRES: This is the first time I’ve actually, I think, looked at these since the girls were born because I
would just think that they were going to die as soon as they were here.
CHELSEA TORRES: After the 24 hours, once they were born Carter had a little bit of breathing problems but
they were doing good.
NICK TORRES: I have two perfect babies, like a huge pressure, it was just removed from us because now the
dread of, “My babies are going to die when they come out” is gone
because they were here and they were here to stay.
CHELSEA TORRES: This one is Callie. Callie is the one who lays back, she is more relaxed. She has a little bit of
scratches on her face because Carter beat her up in the car. She is just something else, she’ll fight with her sister,
she’ll fight with the dog, she’ll fight with Jaysin, she fights with us. So she is actually very vicious.
CHELSEA TORRES: This is Callie and Carter’s room. They sleep in here, they take naps in here, they get their
diaper changed in here. Sometimes they’ll get dressed in here. They have a little music box that they can’t sleep
without. So they just wake up, I usually will nurse them and then that's when they go into the living room
where they spend most of their time.
NICK TORRES: We were vastly unprepared for babies to come home.
CHELSEA TORRES: We were!
NICK TORRES: We didn’t have clothes. Completely caught us off-guard.
CHELSEA TORRES: This is the first outfit I made for Callie and Carter. I actually buy regular clothes from the
back and I cut them in half a certain way.
NICK TORRES: They like to play on the ground, they can scoot and get everywhere around the house.
CHELSEA TORRES: I’ve made about 20 pieces so far, I’d say. So much I’ve made.
They like to venture into the kitchen and try to spill the dog food but other than that, they just hang out here.
CHELSEA TORRES: Jaysin gets along with them good. If they are crying and one of us are busy, he’ll go in there
and play with them until we are done.
CHELSEA TORRES: What does Callie do? JAYSIN TORRES: She likes to play with things.
CHELSEA TORRES: She likes to play with things. What does Carter do?
JAYSIN TORRES: She scoots. CHELSEA TORRES: She scoots! How many heads does
Callie and Carter have? JAYSIN TORRES: Two.
CHELSEA TORRES: Is that different? JAYSIN TORRES: Yeah!
CHELSEA TORRES: Are Callie and Carter, what are Callie and Carter? Are they special?
JAYSIN TORRES: They’re special. CHELSEA TORRES: Are they like other babies?
JAYSIN TORRES: No. CHELSEA TORRES: No!
NICK TORRES: There’s been old ladies who have been like,
“Oh, God I wouldn’t have wanted those children alive”. Some people just kind of stare.
CHELSEA TORRES: They don’t expect them to walk until about four, but I honestly think it’s going to be about
eight. So we don’t expect the co-ordination to start happening until they are a lot older.
CHELSEA TORRES: We don’t feel comfortable separating the twins because they’re going to be more unhealthy
when we have them separated than they are right now.
CHELSEA TORRES: The only way we would do separation surgery for Callie and Carter is if a health
issue arises or if they want to be separated.
CHELSEA TORRES: We want them to completely understand the risks.
CHELSEA TORRES: The girls heath is really good, they don’t have to take any medication.
They get like little colds here and there like normal kids.
CHELSEA TORRES: Hopefully the future holds good things for them and that they are just happy and the skin
that they are in and they don't want to change because we love them the way they are.
NICK TORRES: Just knowing that they are healthy and you know, they are learning at a everyday rate. It’s a good
feeling knowing that. To them, nothing is wrong. They are not afraid to do anything.