For first time in 10 months, girls sleeping in separate beds

09:27 PM CDT on Thursday, June 15, 2006

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – Regina and Renata Salinas Fierros lay in side-by-side beds for the first time in their 10-month-old lives Thursday after doctors separated and rebuilt the twins' bodies in a marathon surgery.

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

Sonia Salinas Fierros and husband Federico visited daughter Regina moments after her separation surgery. On Thursday, the twins were beginning to respond; doctors said Regina moved an arm. The girls had been joined from the lower chest to the pelvis.

"To see the girls today beginning to wake up and move and respond is great excitement for us all," lead surgeon James Stein said at a news conference.

While Renata was the sleepier of the pair, Regina moved an arm, doctors reported.

"She was the feistier of the two," said Dr. William McIlvaine.

The girls were born facing each other, joined from the lower chest to the pelvis. They were fused in several places, including the liver and genitals.

The twins were born Aug. 2 in Los Angeles to Mexican parents who were visiting relatives in the U.S. The girls' mother, 23-year-old Sonia, said she didn't realize she was carrying conjoined twins until she was hospitalized with an infection.

The couple extended their tourist visas so the twins could receive medical care.