A look at the 13 births and separation surgeries (11 sets of girls, two sets of boys) we saw reported on the Web during the year. Cases are shown in reverse chronological order:

Eman and Sanchia Mowatt are separated in surgery performed at the Birmingham Children's Hospital in Birmingham, England on December 11. The three-month-old girls were connected at the lower back and shared some common spinal cord and bowel. The 15-hour separation surgery was successful.

A pair of unnamed sisters are born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on November 28. The girls were scheduled to be separated in surgery in Cape Town in early December. They share three kidneys and were born connected at the spine.

Ischiopagus Twin sisters Moe Ma Ma Aung and Moe Pa Pa Aung are born in Myanmar (sometimes known as Burma) on July 26, connected at the hip. They are successfully separated in a 14-hour surgery performed in Myanmar on August 11, 2002. According to a news report released by the Mandalay Institute of Medicine, they are the 19th set of Ischiopagus Twins worldwide to be separated.

Twin sisters Jessica Faith and Emily Hope are born at Portland's Legacy Emanuel Hospital on July 16. It's the second set of conjoined twins born in Portland in the last year. The girls weighed almost a combined 13 pounds and were born at 37 weeks. They share a heart and are joined at the torso.

Twin boys Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed are born June 2, 2001 in the southern Egyptian town of Qus, near Luxor. The boys are being treated in Cairo and were flown to Dallas, Texas for separation surgery. They were connected at the skull and brain. After several delays, the successful 26-hour surgery takes place on October 12-13, 2003.

Bethany and Alyssa Nolan are born on Thursday, May 3 at the Royal Women's Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. Remarkably, the craniapogus twins are born at the same hospital as another set of craniapogus twins, Monique and Tay-lah Armstrong. While awaiting possible separation, Bethany had heart failure, forcing an emergency 20-hour separation surgery, in which the 3 1/2-week-old girl succombed. The report on Alyssa a year after the surgery is much better.

A pair of girls, Sydney and Alexandra (Lexi) are born to parents James and Emily Stark in Denver on March 9. The pygopagus twins are conjoined at the lower back and weighed a combined eight pounds at birth. Mrs. Stark is a former Miss Colorado. Visit this thread for updates from their mom Emily who provided us updates about the successful separation of Lexi and Syd!

Twin girls, Cristal Paola and Paola Cristal, were born in New York City on April 10. The parents of the twins had traveled from their native Puerto Rico to New York City to deliver the twins. Weighing a combined nine pounds, the thoracopagus twins share a heart and liver. Sadly, the girls died of heart failure on April 15.

An operation was performed on Feb. 28 and March 1 at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to separate conjoined girls. The twins were seven months old but no other family details were provided.

A set of conjoined twin girls are successfully separated in a surgery in Madrid, Spain on February 14. The 21-month-old twins had been born in Morocco in 1999 and were conjoined from the lower back down.

Mary Grace and Rix Lawler are born and pass away on February 12 in Atlanta, Georgia. The twin girls share a malformed heart and live just one hour. The twins weigh a combined 8 lbs, 15 oz. at birth. This family was also profiled in a TV special called 'Joined Together'.

A set of conjoined twin girls are born on January 24 in Cheronget village, Kericho, Nairobi. Tests showed the twins share a heart and interior vessels and cannot be separated. Dr. Hosea Waweru said that they had "done all the possible medical examinations on these twins and established that they are completely inseparable."

A pair of conjoined boys were scheduled to be separated at the Fujian Medical University in Fujian, China in early January. The babies are linked together at the abdomen and chest.