Posted on 10/25/2016 1:56:51 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A touching and inspiring photo showing a premature baby with a big smile on her face has gone viral after being shared on Facebook.
The baby’s mother, Lauren Vinje, posted a photo of her then-5-day-old daughter to the Facebook community Love What Matters. Weighing less than four pounds, and in the neonatal intensive care unit, the infant girl — named Freya — appears happy in the photo.
“Our first daughter at five days old. 3 lbs. 14 oz., she was happy to be alive!” Vinje wrote in the post. “This picture was one I looked at often to get me through the ups and downs of our NICU days. Life is so precious.”
By Friday morning, more than 300,000 people liked the picture, which has also been shared over 44,000 times. The photo also prompted some 9,000 comments, some of which included pictures from Facebook users who shared their own stories of having a premature baby.
Vinje, who lives in Minnesota, also recently shared the story of her daughter’s birth on the blog, Birth Without Fear.
In the post, she wrote that she began showing signs of preeclampsia around her 28th week of pregnancy.
The condition is a complication of pregnancy that is characterized by high blood pressure and signs of damage to another organ system, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can potentially cause fatal complications for the mother and baby if left untreated.
Vinje was admitted to the hospital about six week later, and her daughter was delivered via an emergency cesarean section on Thanksgiving Day, according to the blog post.
“There were so many things I thought were going ‘wrong’ in the moment they were happening. Looking back, it all went perfectly,” she wrote.
The baby, born in 2014, remained in the NICU for nearly another month, until Dec. 21, according to ABC News.
Freya, who will turn 2 years old next month, is now thriving, the network reported.
“Honestly, she is the best thing that has happened to us,” Vinje told ABC News. “We go to the store and she’s the friendliest little girl and she says hi to everybody. She’s so fun. She’s so happy. That picture at 5 days old, you can see her little personality and you look at her now, and she hasn’t changed. She’s still the happy little girl in that photo.”
Preterm birth — which affected approximately 1 in every 10 babies born in the U.S. in 2014 — is when an infant is born before the mother reaches the 37th week of the pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pics like this are why I will always be Pro-Life.
Hey Nick...Shrink it down just a bit...
How? It wasn’t supposed to be that big.
I don’t know...LOL
At the end of the quotes in your IMG SRC put “width =88%>”
Hey, Nick
What happened? All of a sudden my monitor screen got blurry? Can’t understand it (yeah right)
Bless this little one.
There ya go!!! Happy baby!!!!!
That’s one big preemie.
BEAUTIFUL!!!!
And this is what Hillary wants to be able to abort.
Made my day, Nick.
Thanks!
BEAUTIFUL!!!!
And this is what Hillary wants to be able to abort.
Anyone who supports partial birth abortion is evil incarnate.
How very adorable!
img width=150 src=https://tribktla.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/screen-shot-2016-10-21-at-1-04-43-pm.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&strip=all
just add brackets - note modifier width=150
Agree. Abortion is an abomination.
Strange times we live in when the death penalty for convicted murderers has been abolished as cruel and inhumane punishment, but killing an innocent baby in the womb is described as ‘a woman’s right to choose’.
The right to choose begins and ends with condoms, contraceptive pills and IUDs.
You forgot "abstinence"!!
Great pic.
As I began to type that was on the top of my list!!!!!
Thanks for the heads up.
I have heard that you can often see someone’s personality while they are still in the crib.
The story seems to indicate that this is true of baby Freya - she is just a joy to be around.
She will likely be great company through life, and likely a great comfort to her parents in their old age. God bless them.
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