When Emily and James Stark found out that they were expecting, Emily says she had a gut feeling that they would be welcoming twins. What she didn’t anticipate is the news that the doctor would give them.

The doctor informed the couple that their twins were conjoined, and the couple couldn’t believe what they were hearing. With four months to go before the girls’ arrival, they had some time to prepare.

Conjoined twin births are extremely rare, and some 40 to 60 percent of them are delivered stillborn. However, Sydney and Lexi Stark beat those odds when they came into the world.

They defied the odds again when at seven months of age they had surgery to be separated, a surgery that was particularly risky. But the girls made it through that too.

The two were conjoined at the spine and shared intestines and a spinal cord, but James and Emily were confident that this was the only change at giving the girls the lives they deserved.

As it turns out, they did the right thing and you won’t believe what the girls look like now and where they’re headed. Check out the video below to see them now and be sure to share it with your family and friends.