The True Story Behind the Viral Photo of This Baby Surrounded by IVF Needles

Conceiving a child wasn’t easy for Patricia and Kimberly O’Neill. They faced a long, difficult battle of in vitro fertilization treatments and miscarriages before giving birth to their baby girl.

But after four years, seven pregnancy attempts, three miscarriages and 1,616 IVF shots, Patricia gave birth to London O’Neill.

Two weeks after welcoming their baby girl, the couple staged a photoshoot to commemorate all that it took to get them to this moment.

The photographer behind Packer Family Photography was able to portray the parents’ journey to conceive by surrounding little London with all 1,616 shots her mom took before she was born:

The image was posted to the Packer Family Photography Facebook account on Aug. 10 and has since garnered over 60,000 shares and thousands of comments.

Many are writing to share similar stories:

“This photo shows so much beauty and strength,” one Facebook user commented. “I take 8 shots a day and we plan on doing something with all my saved up shots too. Tell the momma congrats because this is such a photo of strength from one mom who has a similar story. Miscarriage of twins, stillborn triplets and losing twin b in this current pregnancy. Please tell her my heart goes out to her.”

Others commented saying this is a “[b]eautiful story while giving others hope!”

And it most certainly is! One in eight couples struggles with infertility, so this is an issue many families face.

The O’Neills also said that since sharing the photo, they’ve been reminded that they weren’t in this alone. They’re hoping others can remember that, too.

“It’s a good representation of our journey,” Patricia told People magazine of the photo. “It’s inspiring to hear other women sharing their stories on a topic that’s kind of taboo. It’s been great to see some women that are like, ‘You’re giving us hope to get through this.’ Because you truly need that.”

She continued, “Sometimes when you’re at it alone, you need to know that someone’s been able to get there, and they’ve had struggles too. You’ve gotta persevere through them.”

And now that they have their very own baby girl, they couldn’t be happier.

From the moment they heard her first cry, they’ve been in awe of their little girl, their journey and just how special it all truly is.

“When we heard her cry, we both looked at each other and started crying,” Patricia told People. “It was a lot of emotions for us all at once. It’s still unreal to me that we finally have our baby. We actually made it here.”

In the end, it was all worth it.

Congratulations to the family on their bundle of joy!