Angela Lakeberg, survivor of separated 7-week-old conjoined twins, squeezed her parents' fingers, sucked on a pacifier and was generally improving, her parents said Saturday.
Doctors, speaking through hospital spokesmen, said Angela was in critical but stable condition, doing as well as can be expected and that the first 72 hours following Friday's surgery would be crucial in determining her chances of survival.Angela was one of conjoined twins born with a single heart and liver between them. Surgeons at Children's Hospital separated them in a 51/2-hour operation, successfully connecting the heart and liver to Angela. Her sister, Amy, deprived of a heart, died on the operating table.
Doctors said without the operation both girls would have eventually died of heart failure.
Parents Reitha and Ken Lakeberg, of Wheatfield, Ind., told a news conference Saturday they were on an emotional roller coaster.
"It's like alternating current. I feel great," Ken Lakeberg said. "But of course we're sad about Amy."
Reitha Lakeberg said her spirits have been "up and down. I'm proud of both my babies. Yesterday was difficult."
The waiting during the surgery was "the worst," she said. "I was worried. I don't know how to describe it."
The parents said they haven't been able to hold Angela in their arms yet, but they can touch her.
Funeral arrangements are pending in Indiana for Amy.