Mother of separated Bangladeshi twins tells of their birth

SYDNEY - The Bangladeshi woman who gave birth to the conjoined twins separated in a marathon operation earlier this month told an Australian woman’s magazine Monday that she was blindfolded during the delivery and had her hands tied.

Lovely Mollick, 23, told Woman’s Day she sobbed so violently when twins Krishna and Trishna were born that stitches from the Caesarean section burst.

Doctors in the Melbourne hospital where they were parted Nov 16 said the two-year-old twins have had a “few difficult days” since the 31-hour life-or-death operation.

“I was so upset to see them in that condition,” Mollick said from her home 137 kilometres south of Dhaka. “Then the doctors pulled the babies away from me. I was shouting like a crazy person. I felt I was almost dead with shock.”

Mollick first saw and held her daughters the day after they were born. She said that when they were six weeks she made the decision to give the girls to a Dhaka orphanage.

Krishna and Trishna, who were joined at the head, were brought to Australia two years ago.

Their parents, who lost their parental rights when they gave the twins to the orphanage, told the magazine they want the girls to stay in Melbourne.

“I dream my children are safe and happy,” she said. “I want to talk with my daughters and I’d do anything to see them for just one minute.”

Margaret Smith, head of the Children First Foundation that brought the twins to Melbourne, said they had experienced “difficulties” since their separation.

“I can’t go into those sorts of details, but it’s not all totally plain sailing,” she said. “Everybody seems to think they’re going to jump out of bed tomorrow, and they’re not going to do that.”