Powerful photo of newborn surrounded by hundreds of syringes shows just how much women who undergo IVF do in order to have children

Women who are so determined to become mothers that they undergo in vitro fertilization certainly don't have an easy ride conceiving their babies.

IVF can be a long, trying, and even painful process that involves multiple daily injections, sometimes producing hundreds of used syringes over the course of multiple cycles.

That was the case for one new mom named Angela from St. Louis, who posed her precious newborn surrounded by a heart of those syringes to illustrate just how much she was willing to endure to welcome her little one into the world, reports the Daily Mail.

The image, which was shared on Facebook by the fertility clinic network Sher Institutes, has already touched the hearts of thousands of people since it was first uploaded on October 5.


The sweet baby girl, wearing a crocheted blue dress and flaunting a full head of hair, sleeps soundly on a white sheet in the center of the picture.

Around her, carefully arranged in the shape of a heart, are hundreds of syringes and empty vials that Angela used over the course of a year and a half with IVF - and according to her specialist, Dr. Molina Dayal, there were plenty of supplies she used that weren't pictured.

The caption says that the picture 'shows the true definition of love that went into making this gorgeous new baby girl'.

Truly, Angela did make many sacrifices to have her baby. When women start IVF, they give themselves one to three hormone injections every single day, in the thigh or stomach, to stimulate the production of multiple eggs during a single menstrual cycle.

They also typically inject themselves with an additional drug that prevents early ovulation until their eggs are ready for retrieval.

Then, once the eggs are ready, yet another injection initiates ovulation, pushing the eggs from the ovaries.

While prospective parents wait until it is time for retrieval, mothers often undergo several blood tests until, finally, the eggs are removed using a long needle. Once they are fertilized, the embryos are transferred via a catheter.

Many people who have never experienced IVF firsthand may be surprised to see it illustrated so plainly, and the clinic's followers, many of whom are current and former patients, were quick to jump in with their own stories and support.

Several shared pictures of their grown children who were conceived with IVF - including quite a few sets of triplets - while others remarked on how powerful the picture was.

“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.