Local conjoined twins celebrate first Christmas

BLACKFOOT — Christmas for Nick and Chelsea Torres, the parents of conjoined twin girls, Callie and Carter, was quite different this year compared to last.

In October 2016 the couple, along with their son Jaysin, 4, moved to Houston, Texas where doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital were skilled to care for conjoined twins. Chelsea was on bedrest at the time and Nick cared for her and Jaysin, who was 3-years old at the time.

“Last year was so depressing. With the delivery of the girls, we were just so scared,” Torres said. “We just spent time alone.”

The twins were born in Texas on Jan. 30, 2017. They were joined at the pelvis and share an intestinal system. Doctors advised against separation and the family returned home to Idaho when the twin girls were five weeks old.

The twins will soon be 11 months old and experienced their first Christmas this week.

“We stayed the night at Nick’s mom’s house and opened presents there,” Torres said. “We had dinner on Christmas Eve and woke up Christmas morning and opened presents.”

As most toddlers, the twins were more interested in the wrapping paper than the gifts.

“The girls loved their presents once we got home, but they were more into eating the wrapping paper and watching everyone unwrap their gifts,” Torres said.

In January the girls will be 1 year old. They have begun to crawl and continue to gain strength in their legs, thanks to a special jumper they received last month.

Torres has been keeping people updated with videos of the girls growing and learning. The videos can be seen here.