Conjoined twins born in Chicago: How are girls faring?

(CBS) Is it raining conjoined twins? One day after a Memphis hospital announced that its doctors had successfully separated conjoined twin boys in August comes news that conjoined twin girls were born last week in Chicago.

Medical miracle? Conjoined twins separated in Memphis

The girls - born on September 6 - were connected at the torso, with a shared heart and legs and each with one good arm, ABC News reported.

Conjoined twins occur only about once in every 200,000 live births, and up to 60 percent are stillborn, according to the website of the University of Maryland Medical Center. How are little Faith and Hope faring? The University of Hospital Medical confirmed that the infants had been born but declined to give details about their condition, according to ABC. But the girls' mother, 21-year-old Amanda Schulten of Marengo, Ill., has been giving upbeat reports on her blog.

"Faith and Hope are doing great!!!" Schulten wrote on Sept. 13. "They are breathing room air at only 35 weeks old! I'm so proud of them. I'm so blessed I can sit by their side all day and night. Can't wait for the day I can bring them home."

Schulten learned months ago that the twins were conjoined but was determined to give birth even though their chances of long-term survival were considered slim, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Sept. 1.

"He has a plan for men, and for them," she said. "We never know when our last day will be. We have to enjoy it, and appreciate health while we have it."

Is Schulten being unrealistic? Most sets of conjoined twins do not survive because their organs cannot support them, according to the website of Seattle Children's Hospital. And a doctor who works for ABC called the girls' prospects "quite bleak."

The oldest documented twins who share a heart is three-and-a-half years old, according to the Sun-Times.But the long odds don't seem to faze Shulten. She wrote on her blog, "My goal is to have the oldest living conjoined twins."

The Seattle Children's Hospital has more on conjoined twins.