Curt and Misty Oglesby were overjoyed to learn that Misty Oglesby was pregnant and that their family would grow. However, the couple learned some news that terrified them 20 weeks into Misty’s pregnancy.
Not only did they learn that Misty was having twins but they also learned that they were having conjoined twins.
“It was hard to take it all in,” Misty tells Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. “We didn’t know what it meant, what it would look like in the future. We were facing the unknown, and that was the scariest part.”
The couple put themselves in the hands of University of Cincinnati Medical Center’s high-risk pregnancy program where they discovered that their babies were joined at the chest and abdomen from sternum to umbilical cord. The baby’s pericardial sacs and diaphragms were fused and they shared a liver. They also found that the tissue in the girls’ hearts did not form correctly which caused problems with the valves that regulate blood flow.
Doctors said the girls had a 5 to 25 percent chance of surviving.
“We were given the option of terminating the pregnancy,” Misty says. “But we felt that if there’s even a 5 percent chance they could survive, we wanted to give them that 5 percent.”
Thankfully, Selah and Shylah’s birth went well, but the hard part was yet to come. They still had to be separated.
Shylah did well in the surgery, while Selah had many complications.
So much so that there were several points when doctors told the Oglesby’s to say their final goodbyes. Shylah’s strength eventually carried her, and sisters were allowed to be brought to their Indiana home 15 months after they were born.
“She is a fighter,” Misty tells TODAY. “She has a drive to live… she’s amazing.”
Thanks to the talented and dedicated staff at University of Cincinnati Medical Center the wins are now 2-and-a-half-years-old and are thriving.
The girls both need nutritional supplements through a feeding tube and Selah has physical, occupational and speech therapists, but they, for the most part, lives as normal toddlers.
“It’s something that shook me to the core. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through,” Misty tells TODAY. “I don’t take one day for granted. Every little milestone they meet, every bite that they take… everything is just a huge victory. I enjoy every moment of it.”
You can watch the video below of this family’s amazing journey.
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