Lauren Vinje, Freya’s mother, shared the smiling picture with a childbirth blog. Within days, the photo received thousands of shares on social media.  This photo of a smiling preemie will melt your heart!

“Our first daughter at five days old. 3 lbs 14 oz (1.7 kg), she was happy to be alive!” Lauren wrote. The little infant weighed less than the usual newborn (which ranged from 5.5 to 11 pounds), yet that didn’t stop her from enjoying life immediately away.

Lauren Vinje’s pregnancy was not without its difficulties, and at 28 weeks, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥ℎ𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑠𝑖𝑎, 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Lauren Vinje’s doctor advised her on Nov. 25, 2014, that the baby’s heart rate was decreasing and that she would have to prepare to give birth.

“I didn’t get to hold her until she was about 5 hours old,” Lauren Vinje said. “David, my husband, got to hold her pretty much right away. They made sure she was able to breathe on her own because 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑒𝑠 are always worried about lung development.”

Five days after Freya was born, Vinje snapped a photo of her daughter as she grinned from ear to ear.

“That picture has always been a favorite of ours,” said Vinje. “I knew it would put a smile on people’s faces…it’s nice knowing her smile has been able to put a smile on faces around the world.”

Lauren Vinje added of parents of 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑒𝑠: “Hopefully everything is going to be alright, every case is different. Especially when you are in the NICU, it feels like you’re never going to get out of there. It was really hard for me. I didn’t feel like I could enjoy this new baby of mine.”

The post received over 9,000 comments, with many people sharing their own preemie stories.

Vinje’s husband, David, said his favorite part of the photo that became viral was seeing how people from all around the world reacted to it.

“We are all born into this world in our own unique way, and it has been so cool to see the responses the photo has generated,” said David Vinje. “This picture has offered relief and joy to us as a family, and it’s been a blessing to see it influence others in an unpredictable way.”

“Honestly, she is the best thing that has happened to us,” Lauren Vinje said.

She’s so fun. She’s so happy. That picture at 5 days old, you can see her little personality and you look at her now, and she hasn’t changed. She’s still the happy little girl in that photo.