Friday, April 13, 2007

Born With Two Heads

I watched a TLC documentary entitled "Born With Two Heads." In this documentary, a young girl was born with two heads. The doctors explained that the mom was suppose to have twins. However, one of the eggs that had split (making them twins) decided to split a second time (giving her triplets). However, if the eggs split, they are suppose to split before ten days of conception. Instead the egg split for a third time after the ten days. This did not allow the egg to split fully. Thus the eggs grew as a combined cell. The strongest child was supplying blood to both herself and her twin. Only, she could not pump enough blood to the "parasitic embryo." Consequently, the parasitic embryo was only able to develop a head. They called this a "parasitic head." It was interesting because this parasitic head wasn't your average parasite. It was a fully developed, functioning head. It just lacked a body. The head even had its own personality. When the host twin was sleeping, the parasitic head would be crying or sucking on a pasaphire. It was amazing- unlike anything I had ever seen before. Sadly, in order to save the child that could sustain its own existance, the parasitic head was cut off and left to die.

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