Formerly Conjoined Twin Gives Birth to Daughter at Hospital Where She Was Separated from Sister

“It feels like full circle since my mom had us here,” Charity Lincoln Gutierrez-Vazquez said of welcoming daughter Alora

A formerly conjoined twin is celebrating a “full-circle” moment as she welcomes her child at the same hospital where she was separated from her sister 21 years ago.

Charity Lincoln Gutierrez-Vazquez recently gave birth to her daughter, Alora, at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, according to TODAY.

While the moment was special in itself, Alora’s birth also marked an important milestone for Gutierrez-Vazquez, who just 21 years earlier was separated from her conjoined twin sister Kathleen in a 31-hour surgery at the same hospital, the outlet reported.

“It feels like full circle since my mom had us here and everything,” Gutierrez-Vazquez told the outlet.

“When I think about this hospital’s history in my family, it makes me thankful for hospitals and medical teams that take amazing care of their patients and families,” she adds to PEOPLE.

Gutierrez-Vazquez and her sister were born attached from breastbone to pelvis, each with one leg and a third fused leg, and they also shared several internal organs, according to TODAY.

In 2000, when they were 7 months old, the girls underwent the risky surgical procedure, led by a team of nearly 30 doctors, nurses and support staff, per the outlet.

At the time, Dr. John Waldhausen called the surgery “as complex and as difficult as anything we do or have done,” TODAY reported, citing his interview on Dateline.

Waldhausen had no idea that 21 years later, he’d be helping Gutierrez-Vazquez once again — this time, through her first pregnancy, according to TODAY.

“When you’re involved with an operation like that, you’re really hoping that you can create a whole lifetime for somebody,” Waldhausen told the outlet. “And then to see this happening, this really comes full circle, so this is a great day for all of us.”

Gutierrez-Vazquez, who called Waldhausen on the phone as soon as she found out she was pregnant, added to TODAY: “He’s been with me through a lot.”

Though Waldhausen was thrilled for Gutierrez-Vazquez, he admitted to the outlet that he did initially have concerns about her pregnancy and enlisted the help of his colleague, Dr. Edith Cheng, to oversee her journey to motherhood.

“I didn’t know if her uterus was going to allow her to carry a child,” he explained to TODAY. “I didn’t know if her abdominal wall reconstruction was going to allow her abdomen to expand in such a way that a baby could grow.”

Of the doctor’s concerns, Gutierrez-Vazquez tells PEOPLE: “I was definitely a bit anxious, but I prayed about it a lot and stayed optimistic. The farther along I got, the more I believed everything would be okay… and I knew I was in good hands.”

Thankfully, all went well for Gutierrez-Vazquez, who says she welcomed Alora on Aug. 12, nearly 34 weeks early via C-section. The newborn had to be admitted into the NICU for supplemental oxygen but has been doing well and is healthy, per TODAY.

“Alora and I are both recovering well,” Gutierrez-Vazquez tells PEOPLE. “She is impressing the nurses and doctors with her progress. [My husband] Ruben and I are so proud of her. We hope that Alora grows up to be loving and kind. And that she has a very happy life.”

“Charity’s case really is the full obstetrical circle,” Cheng told TODAY. “This howling girl this morning, at almost 34 weeks, that is a true triumph, to get this baby to almost term.”

Added Waldhausen: “I wouldn’t call it a miracle. I would call it a medical triumph.”

Because Alora has been in the NICU, she has only gotten to meet her Aunt Kathleen via FaceTime, Gutierrez-Vazquez told TODAY.

“My sister Kathleen was very excited,” she notes to PEOPLE. “She loves being an aunt to my older sister’s kids, and she is thankful for another niece to love on.”

Despite having her daughter in the NICU and not being able to bring her home just yet, Gutierrez-Vazquez said she can’t help but feel gratitude for the new life she’s been given.

“God’s really blessed me with all the doctors in my life and everything,” she told TODAY. “I think it’s important that people see that we’re still doing good, and living the best life we can.”

“God answers prayers, so don’t lose hope in your dreams,” she adds to PEOPLE. “Don’t assume the worst just because your situation is different than other people’s. You can thrive in the life that you were given.”