LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Their names reflect everything they've been through: Miracle and Journee Brooks.
The girls entered the world in what was a complex delivery at Norton Hospital in Louisville.
"Initially, we weren't sure they would be able tot be separated," said Zaria Murrell, a pediatric surgeon.
Their bodies were joined at the chest, abdomen and liver, and they even shared some of the same heart structures.
But in November of 2015, at just seven weeks old, they underwent an eight-hour separation surgery at Norton Children's Hospital. Since then, it has been a very long road for both mom and her daughters.
"It hasn't really been easy," Jasmine Brooks said. "I've lost a few different jobs ... with them having different types of surgeries."
The twins have received continuous medical care at Norton's Critical Care Center.
"Both of them, since they are missing a sternum ... they're ventilator-dependent because they can't fully expand their lungs on their own," Murrell said.
But Miracle is now at home, and that in itself lives up to her name.
"She was expected to not survive," Murrell said.
Journee is expected to be allowed to go home soon.
"It's amazing," Brooks said. "I can't wait to bring my other daughter home."
As for the future, doctors are optimistic, and the Brooks family is taking life one step at a time.
"What the future holds, I don't really know," Brooks said. "It's still a process. I'm hoping and praying."
To say the girls are miracle babies is not an understatement. The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is between five and 25 percent.
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