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SALT LAKE CITY (KSL News/AP) -- Declaring it a "huge day," the parents of 4-year-old twin girls conjoined at birth carried them out of a hospital Sunday, six weeks after separation surgery.
Kendra and Maliyah Herrin departed Primary Children's Medical Center with an enthusiastic greeting for reporters.
"Hey, everybody, it's us!" Maliyah said as she emerged from the revolving door.
Their grandfather pulled the twins around the grounds in a wagon while awaiting the family car, shortly after noon MDT.
"This is a huge day for us, going home," said Jake Herrin, 26, standing next to wife Erin, 25. "We can't believe it's here already. We've been dreaming of this day for a very long time."
Things have gone almost like clockwork for Kendra and Maliyah. A team of eight surgeons separated the girls 16 hours into a 26-hour operation that began Aug. 7. They came through our separation surgery better than expected.
Doctors divided their liver, the bladders and pelvis, leaving each girl with one leg. Kendra kept the kidney. Maliyah is receiving dialysis in preparation for a kidney transplant, likely from her mother.
They left Primary today 86 days after the surgery, rather than the projected 100 days.
The next stage in the recovery will come at home, in North Salt Lake, where Kendra and Maliyah had lived as sisters fused at the torso and sharing a pair of legs and critical organs.
Caring for the girls will be "a 24-hour a day job for us, seven days a week now," said Erin Herrin, who also has a 6-year-old daughter and 15-month-old twin boys.
Kendra and Maliyah will lay on special mattresses and will continue to need an array of medications.
"They have to lay on special things.," said Erin Herrin. " They just can't lay on the hard floor. They have to lay on special mattresses."
They'll also need to have their bandages changed three times each week, a job that takes two hours for each girl, their mother said.
Maliyah also needs additional nutrition through a feeding tube and will undergo dialysis three times a week.
"We know that it's going to be tough taking care of them," Erin Herrin said, adding that the family will get help from visiting nurses. "But we know that it's better for them to be home and start a regular, normal life again."
The girls will regain mobility first by using wheelchairs. They'll also learn to use crutches and, in about six months, will be fitted for prosthetic legs.
Arriving at home, Kendra and Maliyah were greeted by about 40 relatives and neighbors, who decorated the front porch with yellow and purple balloons -- their favorite colors -- and plastered the garage with a large "Welcome Home" sign handwritten by neighborhood children.
"Tibi Hoge, Neighbor: It's just amazing. It's been such a long, long journey for them.To see them drive up and see them come home is just an unbelievable feeling."
Janet Warren, Grandma: I'm so excited that they're coming home. Especially this early. I didn't think that they would be home this early."
Kendra was the first one out of the van. She looked a little nervous, but was soon talking with neighbors and watching everything around her.
Maliyah had a little harder time with all the commotion, and quickly went inside. But once there, she wanted to see her own bed.
"She laid on her bed and she wanted to read a book, and so, they sat there and read a book," said Heidi Labounty, an aunt.
Once Kendra was inside, she started crawling around on the floor.
‘She said it was hard to scoot around without Maliyah helping her," said Labounty. The girls were also excited to see their new dog, their little brothers and the toy room. The entire family is now looking forward to this new beginning.
As the family watches the girls' new beginnings, they have high hopes for the future.
" There's truly a feeling here that is so wonderful that words can't express it. It's a miracle and I'm so excited for it," said Grandmother Janet Warren.
Now that the celebration is winding down, the family is looking forward to spending some time alone with the girls. They say they can't wait to see how their personalities will develop now that they are able to lead separate lives.
A neighbor told us that recently in the hospital, Kendra had whispered to her daughter, "I get to come over to your house and play by myself now."
The girls, who spent three weeks in intensive care, had only minor problems in the hospital did not develop serious infections that could have threatened their lives.
Maliyah reacted poorly to some pain medications but has responded well to dialysis and was only returned to surgery once to replace a catheter.
Kendra returned to surgery Sept. 6 to remove an intestinal blockage believed to be caused by scar tissue.
The girls spent 86 days in the hospital, arriving June 23 to prepare for the separation.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
