Parents’ photo of baby encircled by hundreds of IVF needles went viral in 2018

Patricia and Kimberly O’Neill welcomed a baby girl, London, to their family after trying for a long time, and they decided to take a photo addressing their undying hope.

The ladies met each other while both of them were working at a day-care. After a while, they fell in love, and have been together ever since. Even though both of them have one child each from previous relationships, they decided to have one more to complete their family.

Only one year after being together – February 2014 – they started trying to conceive. Patricia was the chosen one to carry and give birth to the baby, but it wouldn’t be easy due to a blood condition.

SAD NEWS

After undergoing several fertility treatments and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), nothing happened. Finally, in 2016, Patricia got pregnant but suffered a miscarriage. In the same year, she suffered a second miscarriage.

At that point, the couple was “taken back,” but the doctor kept encouraging them. In 2017, they suffered a third miscarriage, something that led Patricia to consider that giving up was probably their best option. “I was throwing in the towel. My wife and my mom, they pushed me to do it,” said Patricia.

GOOD NEWS

Thankfully, they gave it one more chance, and Patricia became pregnant again. However, the couple didn’t want to get too excited about it due to their experience. Nine months later, they welcomed a baby girl, London, via C-section.

As a way to honor and represent the long and challenging journey they went through, the couple hired photographer Samantha Packer for a photoshoot. It showed London surrounded by hundreds of syringes. The heart around her is made of the blood-thinner needles Patricia used twice a day, while the rings represent the many IVF injections she took.

A SIMILAR STORY

Patricia and Kimberly are not the only couple who struggle to welcome a baby as Erin and Matthew Boelhower endured more than 600 IVF injections in three years that were unsuccessful. Apart from that, they experienced a series of miscarriages, but they never lost hope.

Their dream finally came true when Erin's best friend Rachel Checolinski gave them a priceless gift by offering to be their surrogate. Two of Erin and Matthew’s embryos were transferred to Rachel’s uterus, and she became pregnant right away.

Nine months later, she gave birth to a healthy baby, and an emotional picture of Erin holding the newborn baby while Matthew was bawling in the background went viral.