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Rochester, Minn. (AP) ― At St. Marys Hospital, everybody is pulling for Abbigail and Isabelle Carlsen, conjoined twins who will soon be separated.

Surrounding the twins in their room are the photos of 55 doctors and nurses who are helping with their care, well wishes scrawled in Magic Marker and boxes filled with some 500 cards -- from friends and strangers alike.

"I just think Abby and Belle touched a lot of people's hearts, and the support is great," their mother, Amy Carlsen, said Thursday as the duo peered at her with blue eyes, smiled and jabbed each other in the face. "It's needed."

Specialists at the Mayo Clinic are preparing for a May 12 surgery to separate the twins, who were born in November joined at the chest and abdomen. Surgeons will face a tricky procedure that could last 10 hours; while the girls each have a heart, they are close together and their livers overlap. Part of a bile duct will also have to be built for one of the twins.

"We wouldn't be going ahead if we weren't confident that there was a good chance for a good outcome," said Dr. Christopher Moir, a pediatric surgeon who is heading the medical team that will perform the surgery. "But these little girls, unfortunately, have a very complex conjoined system."

The girls' parents -- who left their jobs and lives behind in Fargo, N.D., on Feb. 24 -- have become a well-oiled team themselves in caring for the twins, color coding their clothing and bottles, for instance, to make sure nobody mixes them up.

"I'm doing good," said their father, Jesse Carlsen. "The closer the surgery comes the more anxious we get, just to put it behind us. Every visit from the doctors seems more and more positive."

Said his wife, "It's been an emotional roller coaster ride. I have my good days and bad days, and reality has set in that surgery -- there is a date. I'm scared but I am confident."

Since the mid-1990s, there have been about 250 separations in which one or both twins survived, according to the American Pediatric Surgical Association. Fortunately for the Carlsens, the separation of twins conjoined at the abdomen has had one of the highest statistical success rates.

Thursday morning, Isabelle, wearing yellow with red stripes, and Abbigail, in pink with red stripes, slept on their sides facing each other, sometimes bumping one another with their legs and arms. After waking up, they smiled, touched each other's faces and grabbed their father's fingers.

The surgical team, meanwhile, has been poring over scans and charts for a month in preparation for the surgery. At some points during the procedure, as many as 30 people could be taking part.

Silicone pouches placed under the skin have stretched the girls skin in preparation for the surgery.

At one point after the girls were born, Isabelle grew weak, worrying doctors who wanted to operate as soon as possible. But she has since caught up to her sister, gaining weight and body mass, Moir said.

"We're going to count on their resilience and their health and everything else to have this go well," he said.

The overall strength of the girls has been a relief for the parents, who long to return home and restart their lives. Amy Carlsen, 26, is a nurse in Fargo while Jesse Carlsen, 29, is a road and bridge inspector for the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

"I can't wait to go home and be a family," their mother said.

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Donations or cards can be sent to: Town & Country Credit Union, 815 25th St. S., Fargo, N.D., 58103

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According to the Mayo Clinic, conjoined twins are extremely rare, occurring once in every 200,000 births.

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