Woman is expecting twins with one body

Lisa Chamberlain was told she was expecting the rare dicephalous twins during an emergency hospital scan after she started to suffer mysterious back pains nine weeks into her pregnancy.

Doctors, who could only find one heartbeat, urged the 25-year-old and her fiancé Mike Pedace to consider an abortion and warned them that the babies had a 20 per cent chance of survival but they refused to terminate the pregnancy, which followed years of trying for a child. Today, the mother-to-be, from Portsmouth, who was 18 when she was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries, a condition which can affect fertility, said the twins were "a gift from God".

"Some might think my twins are strange, but to me they're just special," she said. "Everything happens for a reason. Mike and I have spent over seven years trying to have children and we might not get another go."

The twins are likely to be born at London's University College Hospital, which has a team of obstetric consultants who specialise in complicated births. Siamese twins Faith and Hope Williams, who died last month after surgery to separate them, were born at the hospital.

If Miss Chamberlain's babies survive the birth, they will make British medical history as the country's only living dicephalous twins.

The former RSPCA worker said: "Over the years I've been for so many tests and check-ups I'd virtually given up hope. I feel blessed. To me, my twins are a gift from God and we're determined to give them their chance of life."

Doctors at Portsmouth's St Mary's Hospital, where Miss Chamberlain had her scan, have told the couple that the twins may not survive the pregnancy.

But Miss Chamberlain and Mr Pedace, 32, a Roman Catholic, hope their babies will follow the example of 18-year-old American dicephalous twins Abigail and Brittany Hensel, who share a body but lead a full life.

"The fact Abigail and Brittany in America live a full and happy life fills me with hope for my babies," said Miss Chamberlain. "I've even given the twins names - Layla and Kelsey - because I think they're going to be little girls. I've been told that 75 per cent of Siamese twins are."

Mr Pedace, who has been with Miss Chamberlain for eight years, said: "We know it's going to be very tough but we're prepared for that as much as we can be. We've struggled for so long for the chance to have children. Now we've got that chance, we're not going to throw it away."

Miss Chamberlain will have to wait until her 20-week scan to find out how many organs her conjoined twins share.