Conjoined twins take big step towards separation sugery

HOUSTON -- We have an update on conjoined twin girls we first introduced you to last month.

We know them as Hope and Faith, their middle names. The 6-month-old twin girls are joined at the abdomen and share a liver, diaphragm, intestines and lining of the heart.

The Mata family moved to Houston from Lubbock to get care for the girls.

This month, they will begin tissue expansion, preparing them for separation surgery in December. The tissue expansion is expected to take several weeks. It will stretch the skin that will be used to cover patches of their bodes when they are separated.

PHOTOS: Conjoined twins born at Texas hospital

Doctors say they are doing well but are still on some form of support for breathing.

"Their advances in their development have actually been pretty good which is hard when you are kind of plastered up against someone else who is your sister," said Dr. Stephen Welty, chief of neonatology at Texas Children's Hospital, last month.

Doctors say they wanted the twins to grow a little more before performing the December separation surgery.