Incredible Story Behind Photo of Baby Surrounded by Syringes
There's nothing a parent won't do, even before a baby is conceived.
— -- If there was ever a photo that perfectly depicted the pain and joy of IVF, this may well be it.
The photo, shared on the Sher Institutes Facebook page, "shows the true definition of love that went into making this gorgeous new baby girl." In it, the baby is surrounded by hundreds of syringes and vials that the mom used during the blood draws and injections she went through in order to conceive.
Dr. Molina Dayal said that those weren't even all the supplies the mother used to conceive. The mother, Dayal said, had been through multiple IVF cycles over the course of a year and a half.
The baby's mother, Angela, who asked that we use only her first name said she would tell others on a similar path to "hang in there."
"The needles were the easy part. It was the emotional struggle, the ups and downs, that really took a toll," she said to ABC News. "I'm single and waited a long time for a husband to come. And then by that time it was difficult to get pregnant."
"We have never seen a photo create such a stir in the infertility world," Lisa Stark, director of communications at Sher Fertility Institute, told ABC News. In the two days since it was shared, the photo has gotten the attention of more than half a million people and inspired hundreds to share their own infertility journeys.
"My IVF twins are now 13. They were worth every injection, every procedure, every mile driven to the fertility clinic!" one mother wrote on Facebook.
"Every blood draw, every shot, every moment so worth it," wrote another.
"Such a powerful photo. It brings tears to my eyes. We've gone through 2 cycles of IVF and still no take home baby," wrote another Facebook user.
Sher Fertility Institute has locations in New York City, Westchester, New Jersey, Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, Central Illinois, Dallas, St. Louis and Las Vegas. The organization claims to be responsible for the birth of more than 18,000 babies.