CHILDREN'S HEALTH: Parents teeming with joy after their formerly conjoined twins’ surgery: ‘I always dreamed they would be separated’

After a successful separation surgery, the parents of formerly conjoined twins took a much-needed sigh of relief — two of them.

“Our family does not know how we can we pay everyone for the happiness that we have been given,” beaming mom Laurilin Celadilla Marte told reporters Tuesday at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., where she thanked a team of doctors and nurses who surgically separated her daughters last week.

“I always dreamed they would be separated, and that they would have a normal life. And I was incredibly happy,” she said.

Doctors who performed the delicate 21-hour surgery said their 11-month-old patients have a bright future — separately.

“I think the chances of both girls having a real good quality of life is very, very high,” said pediatric surgeon Dr. Whitney McBride. "There will be time periods when they will need physical therapy and help with walking. But overall, we’re very, very pleased with the way the separation went.”

So were little Ballenie and Bellanie Camacho, who posed for pictures in separate strollers. Both cooed and waved, but neither fussed, despite a room filled with well-wishers.

The girls were born conjoined at the lower back.

Marte, 24, and glad dad Abel Camacho, 31, and their oldest daughter, 2-year-old Linabelle were living in the Dominican Republic when a family friend put them in touch with specialists at the medical center’s Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital.

After months of tests, teams of doctors performed the marathon surgery, taking turns dealing with a host of issues including spinal separation, nerve work and plastic surgery.

The operation stretched over two days, beginning Jan. 17 and stretching into the next day, and involved more than 50 medical professionals who practiced with 3-D models of the girls’ bodies. The twins will spend several weeks in recovery.

Conjoined twins are rare, accounting for one set in every 200,000 births, doctors said.

Ballenie and Bellanie were connected at the sacrum, a triangular bone at the base of the spine. They had gastrointestinal connections and shared a branch of an artery, which is the main supplier of blood to the pelvic region, hips, thighs and reproductive organs.

Team leader Dr. Samir Pandya, another pediatric surgeon, said the family’s faith gave him courage.

“When we arrived at the hospital something happened, and we realized it,” Camacho said, praising the staff. “When a doctor, a nurse, someone on the cleaning team looks at you, you feel the love.”