Doctors and Nurses in Shock as Baby with Two Heads is Delivered in Lagos Hospital (Photos)

Two heads are better than one, so goes the popular saying, but there are times when two heads are a big problem, such as with a new born baby delivered on Tuesday at a hospital in Lagos. 

The co-joined twins (Photo: Solomon Adeola)

 

A new born baby with two heads was delivered on Tuesday at a hospital in Ogudu on the outskirts of the commercial city of Lagos, as photos emerge showing the two heads with oxygen tube strapped on each.

 

According to a shocking report by The Nation, medical doctors at Med-In Specialist Hospital, Osogbo Street, who took the delivery, said the baby was born around  6:30pm on Tuesday through an elective caesarean section.  

 

It was gathered that the baby's mother, surgeon and nurses entered the theatre prepared to take delivery of a set of twins as indicated by the various scans she underwent in the course of the pregnancy, but what they saw were two heads sharing a body.

 

The baby  was resuscitated on Wednesday and transferred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for advance care.

 

Speaking to correspondents, one of the nurses who was in the delivery room, disclosed that they had prepared two cots for each of the twins but were shocked when they saw that they were conjoined.

 

“This is the first time I am seeing anything like this. I have watched it in movies but seeing it in real life was such an experience for me. Thankfully, the surgeon ensured that they survived.

“As I speak to you, the mother doesn’t know the condition of the babies. She still believes and expects to carry her twins. We haven’t told her yet. Only her husband was brought into the theatre to see his children and he was the one who went with the doctors to LUTH,” the nurse said.

 

 

In medical parlance, the condition is known as Parapagus. It is a rare form of partial twinning where there are two heads and two necks side by side on one torso.

 

Also speaking, Dare Moses, the Med-In Hospital Manager, said the baby was taken to LUTH so that tests can be conducted to ascertain if they share also vital organs like hearts and lungs.

 

He said: “There is need to find out if they share major organs together. They may have to be flown abroad for separation if they have separate hearts and other vital organs. It is possible for them to survive. I have seen cases of twins like this in movie surviving and living normal lives.

“Normally, when we have cases of pregnant woman expecting twins, we usually go for elective caesarean, which was what the mother opted for.

“But when the doctor was trying to extract one of the babies (first one), it got stuck and when he examined further, he discovered that there were two heads in one body. We are happy that the baby was delivered alive and placed on oxygen. Both heads were alive.

“It was really amazing. I am proud and thankful that we delivered the baby alive. Yes, several scans were done by the mother in the course of pregnancy at different places, but none discovered any abnormality. We are thankful that the operation was successful.”