Conjoined twin girls successfully separated at Texas hospital

A successful surgery at a North Texas Children's Hospital has given two new lives to two special little girls.

Twins Amie-Lynn and Jamie-Lynn Finley of Fort Worth are the first set of conjoined twins to be separated at Cook Children's Medical Center this week.

There was overwhelming joy inside the hospital as it celebrated its first ever separation surgery

Born in October and joined from the breastbone to their bellybutton, the sisters shared a liver.

Conjoined twins are rare. Doctors say only five to eight conjoined twins per year survive the first few days of birth.

Amie and Jamie beat the odds, and a team of 27 doctors and nurses at Cook's worked for months to carefully choreograph what separation surgery would entail.

After a tedious 11-hours in the operating room Monday, the girls were successfully separated.

For the first moment since they found out they were pregnant with conjoined twins, the parents said there was a wave of relief, describing, "It was emotional, you see them separate, just knowing that they're going to a have a normal life."

Dr. Jose Iglesias, director of pediatric surgery, said, "They're going to grow up to the little girls they're supposed to be, independent and feisty like they've already shown us."

The hospital said doctors are optimistic about the twins' recovery and said that as they heal over the next few days, their primary focus will be on breathing support and pain control.