text: Texas Children's Hospital released photos Tuesday of conjoined twins that a team of doctors will work to separate. 
   
   Now estimated to weigh 10 pounds, 4 ounces each, the girls are being cared for by a team of specialists in the level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Texas Children’s Hospital. (Photo: Allen S.Kramer TCH) 
   
   HOUSTON -- Conjoined twins will be separated in a delicate and risky surgical procedure later this year at Texas Children's Hospital. But surgeons anticipate excellent results, and a Texas mom says her hope and faith in a positive outcome continues to grow every day. 
   
   Elysse Mata from Lubbock remembers the exact day she learned her pregnancy was not proceeding as expected. It was January 13th. She was 19 weeks pregnant. She went to her doctor for the ultrasound procedure that would tell her the gender of her baby. The ultrasound technician looked puzzled, left the room, and returned with the doctor. 
   
   "Here's one head, here's the other head," she said the doctor told her. "And that's when I interrupted him and said wait, two heads? He said yes we think you have twins. Well, we know you have twins. But we think they're conjoined." 
   
   "That one moment was probably the worst moment of my life," she said of the sudden fear that her babies might not survive. 
   
   The girls were born, at 31 weeks, at Texas Children's Pavilion for Women, weighing roughly 3 pounds 7 ounces each. They are joined at the chest and abdomen. They share a liver, diaphragm, the pericardial sac (the lining of their hearts), and intestines. Doctors say it appears the girls also share some lung tissue which they believe can be easily separated. 
   
   Elysse and John Mata named them Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith. 
   
   "You can't have hope without faith and you can't have faith without hope," said Mata in an interview with KHOU 11 News while wearing a t-shirt with "Hope and Faith" printed on the front. "And if one baby would have gone, the other would too. And that was a big fear. And so right away I knew you have hope and faith." 
   
   And they have that same hope and faith in the outcome of the surgical separation expected to happen in the next three months. 
   
   "I expect it to go well. Will it be easy? No," said Dr. Stephen Welty, Chief of Neonatology at Texas Children's Hospital. "The best thing to do is to do the safest thing, which is grow them up, get them bigger, more healthy with great nutrition and great developmental care and then separate them in a time which is as safe as possible." 
   
   Dr. Darrell L. Cass, Co-Director of Texas Children's Fetal Center, says the process of separation will begin with the placement of tissue expanders to help induce the growth of additional skin that will be needed once the two babies are separated. The separation itself, conducted by two surgical teams, will likely happen when the babies are between 6 to 8 months of age. 
   
   Cass says the surgery is risky, there is always the risk of death for one or both children, but that he believes the risk is small and that they are anticipating an excellent outcome. 
   
   Photos: 
   
   More information: Fundraising for Faith and Hope 
   
   Related story:Conjoined twins born in Houston 
   
   Read or Share this story: http://www.khou.com/story/news/health/2014/09/02/texas-childrens-hospital-releases-photos-of-conjoined-twins/14976891/ ||||| UPDATE 2/5/15:A little more than a year ago, Eric and Elysse Mata learned they were having conjoined twins. Now at 9 months old, doctors are prepping the girls for seperation surgery. Originally set for December, their surgery has been pushed back and will take place in this month. 
   
   
   
   Since March 20th, 2014 the family has been living in houston where the girls are staying. However, Eric has recently had to return to work in Lubbock. This means driving back and forth, a 10 hour trip one way, as much as he can. 
   
   
   
   This money will help Eric continue to make the journey to be with his family, as well as aid in the families displacement which includes paying two rents, one for Elysse and Azariah as they stay in Houston with the girls and one for Eric while he works in Lubbock and prepares a home for his family. The money will also help the girls during their recovery in Houston and when they get home. Lastly as the girls surgery is coming up, it is now time for the family to start preparing to bring the girls home. 
   
   
   
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   On January 13th, Eric and Elysse Mata went to their first ultrasound 
   
   
   
   hoping to find out if they had a boy or a girl on the way. Little did they know, they were going to find out much more. The doctors informed them that they were having not one, but two girls. The girls were conjoined at the chest with a partially shared diaphragm and liver. Their chances of survival were a mere 20% which inspired their middle names, Faith and Hope. Despite the odds, on April 11th the girls were born at 31 weeks, early but healthy enough. Together they were 7lbs 9oz. 
   
   
   
   Today they are a healthy 6lbs each. Faith is still breathing with the support of a c-pap machine and has a feeding tube. Hope is starting to eat from a bottle. Once they reach full term and are eating and breathing without assistance, they can go home. This is only the beginning as they will be prepping for separation surgery when they are about 8 months followed by rehabilitation. 
   
   
   
   To get ready for separation, at 4-6 months, the doctors will put in tissue expanders. These expanders will stretch the skin and will require weekly trips to the hospital to add saline. It will take 6-8 weeks for the skin to stretch enough to cover the area after separation. After seraration, the girls will go to a rehab center to catch up-- learn to balance on their own, crawl, and walk. 
   
   
   
   
   
   ||||| Conjoined twins Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith were successfully separated during surgery Feb. 17 at Texas children's Hospital. (Photo: Allen S.Kramer / Texas Children's Hospital) 
   
   HOUSTON – Elysse Mata still remembers the day a doctor told her she was pregnant with conjoined twins. 
   
   It was Jan. 13, 2014, and she was 19 weeks pregnant. 
   
   It wasn't long after—12 weeks later on April 11, to be exact—that Mata gave birth to Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata, twin girls joined at the chest and abdomen. 
   
   After only 10 months of living conjoined, a team of doctors at Texas Children's Hospital successfully separated the girls during a 26-hour surgery Feb. 17. 
   
   It was a trying surgery for doctors, who had to separate the Knatalye and Adeline from the chest wall, lungs, pericardial sac (the lining of the heart), diaphragm, liver, intestines, colon and pelvis. 
   
   More: Hope, faith strong for conjoined twins at Texas Children's Hospital 
   
   "This surgery was not without its challenges with the girls sharing several organ systems. Our team has been preparing for this surgery for months, and we've done everything from working with our radiology experts to build a 3-D model of their organs, to conducting simulations of the actual separation surgery," said Dr. Darrell Cass, pediatric surgeon and co-director of Texas Children's Fetal Center. 
   
   It took doctors roughly 18 hours to separate the two, while doctors worked on Knatalye for 23 hours and 26 on Adeline. Specialty doctors from pediatric surgery, plastic surgery, cardiovascular surgery, urology, liver transplant surgery, orthopedic surgery and pediatric gynecology assisted in the surgery. 
   
   Knatalye and Adeline will be overseen by a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit during their recovery for the ensuing months. Doctors said they expect they'll undergo additional surgeries in the future. Doctors said they're unsure of a possible release date. 
   
   "We are so grateful to all the surgeons and everyone who cared for our daughters and gave them the incredible chance to live separate lives," Mata said. "We know how much planning and time went into this surgery and we are so blessed to be at a place like Texas Children's where we have access to the surgeons and caretakers that have made this dream a reality." 
   
   Read or Share this story: http://www.khou.com/story/news/health/2015/02/23/conjoined-twins-separated-at-texas-childrens-hospital/23866141/ ||||| PRESS RELEASE FROM TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: 
   
   
   
   HOUSTON – (Feb. 23, 2015) – Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata, conjoined twin girls born at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women in April 2014, underwent a successful separation surgery on Feb. 17 at Texas Children’s Hospital. A team of more than 26 clinicians including 12 surgeons, six anesthesiologists and eight surgical nurses, among others, worked together to separate the girls who shared a chest wall, lungs, pericardial sac (the lining of the heart), diaphragm, liver, intestines, colon and pelvis. During the complex surgery, the team worked for approximately 23 hours on Knatalye and 26 hours on Adeline with the official separation occurring approximately 18 hours into the surgery. Among the surgical subspecialties involved were pediatric surgery, plastic surgery, cardiovascular surgery, urology, liver transplant surgery, orthopedic surgery and pediatric gynecology. 
   
   “This is the first time a separation surgery for thoraco-omphalo-ischiopagus twins with this particular configuration has been successful,” said Dr. Darrell Cass, pediatric surgeon, co-director of Texas Children's Fetal Center and associate professor of surgery, pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine. “This surgery was not without its challenges with the girls sharing several organ systems. Our team has been preparing for this surgery for months and we’ve done everything from working with our radiology experts to build a 3-D model of their organs, to conducting simulations of the actual separation surgery.” 
   
   A multidisciplinary team is currently caring for the girls in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit where it is expected they will continue to recover for a couple of months. It is anticipated they will undergo additional surgeries in the future. 
   
   “We are so grateful to all of the surgeons and everyone who cared for our daughters and gave them the incredible chance to live separate lives,” said Elysse Mata, mother of the babies. “We know how much planning and time went into this surgery and we are so blessed to be at a place like Texas Children’s where we have access to the surgeons and caretakers that have made this dream a reality. We also want to express our gratitude to all of the people that have prayed and provided support to our family over the last 10 months.” 
   
   
   
   About the Mata twins 
   
   Knatalye and Adeline were born on April 11 at 3:41 a.m. at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, estimated to weigh 3 pounds, 7 ounces each. Delivered via Caesarean-section at 31 weeks gestation, Knatalye and Adeline were welcomed by their parents, Elysse and John Eric Mata, and their 5-year-old brother, Azariah. 
   
   The family, from Lubbock, learned during a routine ultrasound on Jan. 13, 2014 that Elysse was carrying twins and they were conjoined. Subsequently, the family was referred to Texas Children's Fetal Center where they underwent extensive prenatal imaging, multidisciplinary consultation and development of plans to achieve a safe delivery and postnatal care. 
   
   For the last 10 months, Knatalye and Adeline were cared for by a team of specialists in the Level IV neonatal intensive care unit at Texas Children's Hospital. 
   
   In December 2014, the girls underwent a five-hour surgery at Texas Children’s to place custom-made tissue expanders into their chest and abdomen area. The tissue expanders helped to stretch the babies’ skin in preparation for their separation surgery. More information about the tissue expansion is available here. 
   
   The girls will remain at Texas Children’s under the care of a team of specialists until their discharge date, which is at this time unknown. 
   
  
target: – Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata were born conjoined on April 11 and spent 10 months connected at the chest and abdomen—but on Tuesday at Texas Children's Hospital, the girls were successfully separated. After months of preparation, a team of more than 26 medical professionals from numerous specialties took 18 hours to separate the chest wall, lungs, diaphragm, liver, intestines, colon, pelvis, and lining of the heart, according to a press release. In total, Knatalye was in surgery for 23 hours, Adeline for 26, KHOU reports. Prior to the procedure, doctors put in tissue expanders designed to stretch their skin, among other preparations. "We've done everything from working with our radiology experts to build a 3D model of their organs, to conducting simulations of the actual separation surgery," says Dr. Darrell Cass, who calls the separation the first successful one for "thoraco-omphalo-ischiopagus twins with this particular configuration." A YouCaring fundraising page for the girls explains that they were given just a 20% chance of survival when their parents learned about their condition at an ultrasound on Jan. 13, 2014; the girls were born early, at 31 weeks, weighing an estimated 3 pounds, 7 ounces each. "You can't have hope without faith, and you can't have faith without hope," mom Elysse told KHOU last year, explaining their names. "And if one baby would have gone, the other would, too. And so right away I knew you have hope and faith." Now she says, "We are so grateful to all the surgeons and everyone who cared for our daughters and gave them the incredible chance to live separate lives." A Facebook page for the girls has pictures of them separated; each will undergo future surgeries. (A woman who didn't know she was pregnant recently birthed a rare type of twins.)