Best Friends Already': Twins Born Holding Hands

The pair come into the world grasping each other after nine months of concern due to rare life-threatening condition.

Identical twin girls in Ohio have been born holding hands after surviving a life-threatening condition. Jillian and Jenna Thistlethwaite were pictured clutching each other as doctors lifted them up after delivery. "I can't believe they were holding hands. That's amazing," said mother Sarah Thistlethwaite, aged 32. "They're already best friends." The heartwarming sight followed a difficult nine months for the parents. The girls were monoamniotic, or "mono mono" births, an extremely rare condition in which twins share the same amniotic sac and placenta

The condition is often extremely dangerous as it is possible the babies' umbilical cords can become tangled, which could prove deadly. But it was a happy ending for Jillian and Jenna who have now been removed from ventilators and are said to be breathing comfortably on their own. Their mother was even able to hold them in time for Mother's Day. "It's just hard to put into words how amazing it feels to know the girls are OK," she said. "Mono Mono" births occur in an estimated one in every 10,000 pregnancies. Dr Melissa Mancuso said Jillian and Jenna were among just a few amniotic pairs she had witnessed being born in more than a decade delivering babies.