Mother of Once-Conjoined Twins Posts ‘Dada' Facebook Video of Boys

The 13-month-old twins, Jadon and Anias, were separated following 16 hours of surgery at Montefiore Medical Center

The mother of once-conjoined twins from Illinois posted a Facebook video of the recovering boys that users are going gaga over.

In the video, the boys are seen squirming and cooing to one another with a few bouts of "dada," providing a heartwarming update to a long and arduos stretch of medical procedures following their birth. 

The McDonalds' 15-month-old sons, Jadon and Anias, were separated following 16 hours of surgery at New York's Montefiore Medical Center last month. While there were a number of concerns before and after the surgery, it appears the boys are progressing "right on target, if not ahead of schedule," Dr. James Goodich told CNN. He added that he hopes to have the babies "out of here, off to rehab," in the coming weeks.

The twins' mother, Nicole McDonald, wrote last Novemeber they were headed for what would hopefully be "the last time the boys will undergo surgery for a very long time." The will were receiving skin grafts, she said. 

"Both boys seemed pretty happy yesterday, which has been a battle to achieve with all the infections," she wrote. "I hated that this had to happen today after they both seemed comfortable yesterday for the first time in a while. BUT it must be done. I suppose our time for painless, sickless days will come soon enough. Meanwhile we are totally loving this whole holding thing."

Holding the boys after their separation was something the parents had been waiting for a long time to do.  

McDonald has reluctantly documented her family's experience as her sons faced their most difficult surgery yet. But if supporters of her family read anything she hopes, it's her message to them and the doctors who saved her children. 

In a lengthy and emotional Facebook update shortly after the surgery, the mother shared that as she and her husband "emerged from the depths of the hospital" last week, they were forced to face the fact that their family's private battle has quickly become a national story. 

"For those of you who don't know us, it might be interesting to note that we do not have TV or Internet access at home," she wrote. "We don't get to watch the news on a regular basis and we have literally spent the last 36 hours at the boys' bedside or waiting for updates from the doctors in the Caregiver Support Center at Montefiore."

McDonald noted that at first, she didn't want to take her family's unique situation public, but agreed because they wanted to help show the medical miracle that would soon separate her sons. 

"Our biggest desire was to show how brilliant the team at Montefiore has been and to give the hospital the credit it deserves," she wrote. "The real heroes of this story are the people who have put countless hours, days and months into the success of today."

McDonald and her husband first found out they were having twins during a routine ultrasound when she was 17 weeks pregnant. But hours after learning the big news, the couple was called back for a repeat ultrasound, a call she said is "every pregnant mother's nightmare."

"It was on that day, in that dark room, that our whole life changed," McDonald wrote in a GoFundMe page for the family. "I was informed that I was pregnant with craniopagus twins, which in normal language means twins who are joined at the head. I was given the option on many occasions to abort my precious babies. I kindly declined. I had heard their heart beats...they spent their life listening to mine. It was my job as their mother to give them life and I decided that I would give everything up, if need be, to do so. Miracles happen...and there is one (really, two :)) unfolding before our very eyes."

McDonald went into labor on Sept. 9, 2015 and an emergency c-section was performed at Rush University Medical Center. 

While the babies started having some health problems shortly after birth, things quickly "went downhill" for the McDonald family.

"Anias started having trouble breathing," McDonald wrote. "Because of the way he was positioned in my belly, his chin was against his chest and his jaw couldn't grow. His airway was also constricted. As he required more oxygen for day to day life, his breathing got worse and worse, until eventually he was back on oxygen."

Months later, the couple met with a specialist in hopes of successfully separating the twins. Fast forward to October, the babies have undergone their final surgery, but their most difficult. 

The family's GoFundMe page had exceeded their goal of $100,000 to aid with the babies' medical care. 

McDonald thanked those who helped her family during the trying time, saying "each and every one of you is a hero in your own way."

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