Watch this baby hear her mother’s voice for the first time

Their mother’s voice is often among the first sounds a baby hears. But for infants with hearing loss, that precious moment is usually delayed.

When Christy and Daniel Keane realized their newborn daughter, Charlotte, was not responding to vocal cues and noises, they brought her to the doctor and discovered the baby was suffering from hearing loss. They decided to get hearing aids for 2-month-old Charlotte. As a result, Christy got to watch (and record) her daughter’s amazing reaction as she heard mom say, “I love you” for the very first time.

Christy decided to share a video of this touching moment on Facebook, and fair warning—you might want to grab some tissues. Take a look at the priceless footage below:

As you can see, baby Charlotte’s little face crumples up with emotion. She doesn’t seem to know how to react, and we don’t blame her!

“CHARLY HEARS FOR THE FIRST TIME AND HEARS ME SAY I LOVE YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!,” Christy captioned the video. “And she’s holding back happy tears and emotional as her mama.”

After family and friends urged Christy to make the video public so they could share it, the video quickly went viral. It has now been viewed 12 million times and shared more than 200,000 times. Christy was shocked to learn that her special family moment touched so many.

“I was not expecting such a large response to the post,” she told GoodHousekeeping.com.

The new mom says that the moment was so precious for her because she saw her daughter display genuine emotion.

“I had never in my life seen that face before,” she said. “I’m her mother, and I know the look in her eyes when she’s sad, upset or hurting, and that connection, and that moment when our eyes met and she heard my voice for the first time, that was true emotion from her.”

Christy said when they received the news that their daughter had profound hearing loss, it was hard to handle. However, the couple is doing all they can to ensure they can effectively communicate with their daughter. They are exploring sign language and considering cochlear implants for Charlotte when she is closer to a year old.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaXlB95lwg_/?taken-by=theblushingbluebird

Although their experience has been challenging, they’re not taking anything for granted.

“She’s taught me so much about connection, engagement and perspective that I otherwise wouldn’t have even had the possibility of knowing,” Christy said. “Every day, we experience a miracle when we put her hearing aids in and get to see her smile.”