Having conjoined girls was challenging, to say the least. Both heads could control the body, but it seemed that Amy was in charge. This didn’t always go well for Jess in the earliest years. Before she built up muscles to keep her head upright, her sister would drag her along the floor. She would sometimes fall on or even sit on top of her. Jess didn’t need to breath, but had a simple vocal system that allowed her to cry out when her sister was being too rough. Jess was resilient, only crying if Amy bumped her hard enough that both girls felt the pain. Sometimes, while Amy slept, Jess would take control. This usually didn’t last long but, on more than one occasion, Jess carried a snoring Amy into the playroom to find her favorite toys.
Diapers might have been the biggest challenge to overcome. Not long after leaving the hospital, they discovered the harsh reality of having twins conjoined like this. The liquids that Amy drank were destined to come out of Jess. An unfortunate job to be sure, but they had to go somehow. X-rays revealed that they had three separate urethras, one that traveled from their bladder to Jess’s mouth, another that ran just below but didn’t appear to have fully developed and a more ordinary tract in their vagina, though it didn’t appear to be connected to the bladder like the other two. They were to young to have these urinary tracts surgically rerouted but their obstetrician suggested looking into it when they were a bit older.
Jess didn’t seem to mind it, she really didn't know any better. The two of them wore ordinary diapers to catch solid waste while Jess hung out of the waistband. To keep them from peeing on the floor, a cloth mask had been specially designed. Mom and Dad weren’t fans of the mask, but knew the alternative was a frequent mess.
Fortunately, their daughters developed remarkably fast, ready to be toilet trained at three and quite capable of going on their own within the next year. Early toilet training wasn’t the only surprise they had to offer. Amy had shown a great interest in picture books and bed time stories from an early age. Jess wasn’t quite as enthusiastic, but didn’t have much choice when her sister decided to find a picture book to flip through. By four, they were recognizing symbols, naming animals and even understanding several written phrases. Most impressive of all was that Jess seemed to be just as sharp, even though her brain was about one third the size of her sister’s.
As the two girls grew, clothes became more of a concern. On lazy days, Mom would just slip a shirt on and call it good; but when they needed to go out, a shirt wasn’t quite enough. Diana sewed special pairs of pants with an opening connected to a loop to go around Jess’s neck. They also made similar adjustments for dresses and skirts...
These customized clothes became more important than ever when it was time to enroll them in school...