Few moments are more precious than the first time you get to hold your brand new baby, but not all parents get the opportunity to snuggle their newborn right away. After her son was unexpectedly born at just 26 weeks and three days' gestation, one mom had to wait four long, anxious days before she could finally hold him in her arms, and she shared the special moment in a moving video that's going viral.
"4 days after birth, I held my baby for the first time. It was the best feeling in the world," the unnamed mom shares in a post on Love What Matters.
"They have no idea why I had him early," the mom explained. "I'm a fairly healthy person, never missed taking my prenatal vitamins, completely cut out caffeine and exercised kind of regularly. He was only 860g at birth. For the first 4 days I wasn't able to hold him, I was barley able to touch him. I just wanted a normal pregnancy, a normal birth, I wanted to be able to hold my baby right away, feed him and snuggle him."
In the video, you can see nurses helping the mom situate her tiny son amongst all the wires and machines.
It takes a lot to get the baby settled, but once she does, it's pure magic.
Once the baby is finally pressed against her chest, tears well in the mom's eyes.
In her post, she reveals that her son, whose name is Grayson, is now 6 months old and thriving. "He's happy, healthy and now I get to snuggle him whenever I want," she writes. "It's scary to think 1 in 10 babies is born premature. I just want other parents who are going through this to know it's hard, it's scary but you're stronger than you think you are, your baby is a fighter and you're not alone."
The moving video has been shared over 900 times, and hundreds of people have commented to share their own moving preemie stories.
Some even shared their own photos, like this mom whose baby spent 77 days in the NICU.
And this mom, whose preemie baby came home one year ago today.
The video has inspired emotional reactions all over the Internet, but one thing is clear: These babies (and their moms) are all fighters.
