25 Year-Old Woman Delivers Baby With 2 Heads And Calls Them "Emanoel And Jesus"

Maria de Nazare, gave birth by caesarean at a hospital in Anajas, in Brazil's northern Para state, with her newborn weighing 9.9lbs.

And in a tribute to the religious celebrations at Christmas, she has decided to call the pair Emanoel and Jesus.

The baby has two heads but all his organs are functioning healthily. The mother was said to have found about the abnormality only minutes before he was born.

Following the birth of her baby, mother Maria, 25, admitted that she had been told she was set to welcome twins. But following a number of tests, doctors have revealed that the baby has two brains and two spines but shares one heart, lungs, liver and pelvis.

The 25-year-old mother, who lives in a rural area of the state, had no ultra-sound scans during her pregnancy and only found out about the abnormality minutes before the baby was born at 1am on Monday morning.

Mr Vasconcelos added that at no point did the mother, who has three other children, appear distraught that her son has two heads.

CONJOINED TWINS

The two-headed boy is, in reality, conjoined twins who share a single body. The condition is known as dicephalic parapagus - an extremely unusual form of conjoinment.

He said: 'On the contrary, the baby was received with much happiness by the family.

Because they share the same body, it is not possible to separate dicephalic parapagus twins.

'The mother fed both mouths and the baby stayed with her in her room the whole time. Her desire was to take her baby straight home.'

The birth of such twins is extremely rare in south-west Asia and Africa.

The mother and baby were taken by air ambulance yesterday afternoon to a specialist hospital in the state capital, Belem, to carry out further tests. They are expected to be allowed home later this week.

However, there have been instances of dicephalic parapagus twins in the West.

In the U.S. Abigail and Brittany Hensel have become media celebrities, appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show and featuring in television documentaries.

Remarkably, this is the second time a two-headed baby has been born in Brazil this year. Sueli Ferreira, 27, gave birth to a two-headed baby in Paraiba State, but it died a few hours later because of lack of oxygen to one of the child's heads.