The parents of formerly conjoined twins have provided an update on their baby girls, saying there is "light at the end of the tunnel" after their successful separation surgery.
Babies Annabelle and Isabelle Bateson, who are just one in 2.5 million, were born safely in March. Parents Hannah and Dan Bateson, from Toomebridge in Co Antrim, first found out their daughters were conjoined twins in a 12-week scan last year.
The babies were attached from the chest to the pelvis and shared a bladder, bowel, and a fused leg - but had separate hearts.
Read more: Formerly conjoined twins recovering well after separation surgery
In mid-September, the couple revealed that the conjoined twins had been separated. The 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.
Proud parents Hannah and Dan have been together for 14 years, married for six and have faced a tough road to becoming parents.
They have previously 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.
The couple has now provided a further update several weeks on from the surgery and a new photo of the girls outside for the first time.
In a post on social media, they said: "We are still in GOSH but we are finally feeling like the girls are coming out the other side of things now. It took Issie a little bit longer to get back to her happy wee self but she’s got there.
"They’ve both found their voices again . . . and the warbling that they do with each other is back in full force.
"It’s amazing to see the girls interacting with each other, talking and playing, reaching out for each other (grabbing tubes and stealing each other’s toys)."
They added: "We are now able to take the girls out and about for walks, which has been a game changer, cabin fever was definitely setting in for us all.
"We still have a bit to go, both girls still have some more surgeries in front of them, no date for home yet as yet, I’m hoping within the next few weeks though.
"Dan is heading home this weekend, it’s been a hard decision, things are still pretty constant and the girls still have ups and downs but he needs to get back out on the road again."
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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