two headed baby

"Hope Munro Smith" wrote in message
...

If I were the mother I would be looking for representation to find out
if there is some pollutant in the environment that caused my baby to
have such a dramatic birth defect.

I think you'd have a hard time winning. If it were some sort of
environmental thing that causes two heads to grow, there would be more than
one case. You'd have to convince people that the pollutant caused this to
happen to your child and only your child and somehow, everyone else was
spared.

"dragonlady" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(St. Matthew) wrote:
How did it happen? If I were the mother, I'd be fighting irrational
feelings of guilt: did I drink too much alcohol before pregnancy or
otherwise abuse my body?

Then someone would need to provide some serious counseling.

No one knows what causes identical twins; they only know that when the
split occurs late, it can be incomplete, resulting in cojoined twins.
If one of the co-joined twins fails to develop normally, you have what
you have he a baby whose development would normally have failed and
caused a spontaneous abortion, but, because the fetus was attached to a
normally developing baby, did not. There is absolutely NO evidence that
the mother's behavior, or nutruition, or anything else has anything to
do with it: it just seems to be "one of those things".

No one did anything "wrong".

I don't think the poster actually meant the mother did anything wrong. She
would just question herself, like many people do after a miscarriage,
disaster, accident, tragedy, kidnapping, etc. Logic has nothing to do with
it. We humans just tend to do that, even though we know nothing could have
been done.

wrote:

She
would just question herself, like many people do after a miscarriage,
disaster, accident, tragedy, kidnapping, etc. Logic has nothing to do with
it. We humans just tend to do that, even though we know nothing could have
been done.

For my part, I don't *think* I would react that way, though I can see why
people do. What would bother me a good deal, I think, is the sensation of
having almost had two babies -- and yet not. Conjoined twins are definitely
individuals, but this was much more like a misformation of *one* individual,
like having extra fingers or toes, or one of those tumors that is made of fetal
cells from an undeveloped twin. There could be no question of the other head
having individual rights -- or could there? Brrrrr.

--Helen

In ,
Hope Munro Smith wrote:
*
*If I were the mother I would be looking for representation to find out
*if there is some pollutant in the environment that caused my baby to
*have such a dramatic birth defect.

No you wouldn't. Your baby's doctors would explain to you that
environmental pollution is not the cause of twins and twinning variants
like this.

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

In article ,
dragonlady wrote:

In article ,
(St. Matthew) wrote:

(H Schinske) wrote in message
...
wrote:

I have been horrified that this is all over the news -- exactly like a
freak show

what can parents be thinking of to expose their child to this --

How is it any different than any other operation to separate conjoined
twins?
Those are *always* news.


This world has never seen a live 2 headed baby before. This is a
first.

How did it happen? If I were the mother, I'd be fighting irrational
feelings of guilt: did I drink too much alcohol before pregnancy or
otherwise abuse my body?

Then someone would need to provide some serious counseling.

No one knows what causes identical twins; they only know that when the
split occurs late, it can be incomplete, resulting in cojoined twins.
If one of the co-joined twins fails to develop normally, you have what
you have he a baby whose development would normally have failed and
caused a spontaneous abortion, but, because the fetus was attached to a
normally developing baby, did not. There is absolutely NO evidence that
the mother's behavior, or nutruition, or anything else has anything to
do with it: it just seems to be "one of those things".

No one did anything "wrong".

I am fascinated by the issues of identical twins (even though mine are
fraternal -- and they DO know what makes THAT happen!), and that
includes the subcategory of cojoined twins (and the even rarer
subcategory illuminated here. I'm sorry this is getting so much
sensational exposure, but find myself very much interested in how they
are connected, and what sorts of challenges the surgery faces, and all
that kind of stuff.

Personally, I don't find the pictures or the medical information being
given any more inappropriate than any other coverage given unusual
congenital problems, and how they are corrected.


The operation is half-way done:

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040206_1787.html

"toypup" wrote in message news:kRVUb.108574$U%5.557762@attbi_s03...
"dragonlady" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(St. Matthew) wrote:
How did it happen? If I were the mother, I'd be fighting irrational
feelings of guilt: did I drink too much alcohol before pregnancy or
otherwise abuse my body?

Then someone would need to provide some serious counseling. snip
There is absolutely NO evidence that
the mother's behavior, or nutruition, or anything else has anything to
do with it: it just seems to be "one of those things".

No one did anything "wrong".

I don't think the poster actually meant the mother did anything wrong. She
would just question herself, like many people do after a miscarriage,
disaster, accident, tragedy, kidnapping, etc. Logic has nothing to do with
it. We humans just tend to do that, even though we know nothing could have
been done.

Correct, & I think dragonlady understood that. I appreciate her
explanation 'cause it can go out to anyone out there who may be
suffering from unneeded feelings of guilt.

Jenn wrote in message ...
In article ,
Hope Munro Smith wrote:

"jojo" wrote in news:JxRUb.19718$Ku5.16759
@newssvr24.news.prodigy.com:


pictures of a two headed baby can only be released by a hospital if the
parents agree to it --- it doesn't 'just sort of happen'

What pictures? It was a tough article, but I didn't see any pictures nor
full names....
what gives?



USA's site has a photo:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...ion-usat_x.htm

To me this is an issue of the medical profession publicizing a rare and
difficult medical procedure, to which the parents agreed since they are
getting the treatment for their child for free.


this is a total pander --- why do people have to see these pictures
except for the usual pornographic reasons? think how this child is
going to love this following her around for the rest of her life --
pictures once publized are forever

Is it possible they come from a small town where you don't get any
darn privacy anyway? Not everyone lives in a nice big city where you
can change suburbs easily for a fresh start, and because of this the
girl may be doomed to carry a reputation as a freak throughout her
childhood no matter how much the publicity is restricted. I don't
watch the news much so I don't know many details about where they come
from.

I suspect the parents are well aware that follow up care might cost a
lot of money, and they want to make sure the charitable organisation
has a lot of their image invested in the child.

----------
In article , Jenn
wrote:


In article ,
(St. Matthew) wrote:

What if the same thing happened to you? If it were me, God forbid,
there'd be no cameras in the nursery, that's for sure. It's not a
freak show.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2500458

I have been horrified that this is all over the news -- exactly like a
freak show

what can parents be thinking of to expose their child to this --

What are you worried about.. After the operation, the kid'll look normal and
no one will be interested then..

----------
In article , Jenn
wrote:


In article ,
Hope Munro Smith wrote:

"jojo" wrote in news:JxRUb.19718$Ku5.16759
@newssvr24.news.prodigy.com:


pictures of a two headed baby can only be released by a hospital if the
parents agree to it --- it doesn't 'just sort of happen'

What pictures? It was a tough article, but I didn't see any pictures nor
full names....
what gives?



USA's site has a photo:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...ion-usat_x.htm

To me this is an issue of the medical profession publicizing a rare and
difficult medical procedure, to which the parents agreed since they are
getting the treatment for their child for free.


this is a total pander --- why do people have to see these pictures
except for the usual pornographic reasons? think how this child is
going to love this following her around for the rest of her life --
pictures once publized are forever

I don't think the kid will give a ****.

Enough with this trivial tempest in a teapot. There are many more real
things you and I and everyone should be fretting about. Like the
government's snafu in Iraq, and the collective billions everyone is going to
be forced to spend in taxes to pay for it. As a foriegn national, at least
this girl won't have that debt over her head like America's children will.


Deb.

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In article ,
(St. Matthew) wrote:


"toypup" wrote in message
news:EGRUb.240818$na.397528@attbi_s04...

In ,
St. Matthew wrote:

*What if the same thing happened to you?

I don't know what I'd really do in her parents' shoes. I do know I didn't
immediately feel a bond with DS when he was born. I hear that's normal. If
my child had two heads, it might freak me out too much and take me much
longer to develop a bond. The second head moving its mouth while I was
nursing would really bother me.


I'd be flooded with empathy for the little one. I'd also even have
feelings for the partially developed head because there is some brain
activity detected there. It is a form of life, too, after all.

Yeah, I wondered about that too. But, as the doctors said, it was growing
faster than the girl. It could very well kill her as it pushed into her
brain and compressed it. Gotta go, rather than take the chance that the
infant dies as well.

Deb.