Once a very small girl became a real ray of hope for parents of children who found themselves in the same situation. Smiling Freya, who was only 5 days old in the photo, unknowingly did a tremendous job.
The little girl smiled at her loving parents, David and Lauren Vinje, and was named “the happiest child in the world”.
Freya was born on Thanksgiving Day in 2014. She weighed only 1.7 kilograms, while the average weight of newborns ranges from 2.5 to 5 kg.
As her mother Lauren recalls, “I was talking to her and asked, ‘Should we send a photo to Dad?’ And when I was about to take a picture of her, she smiled that very wide smile. It’s the picture I always wanted to share with people, because it touched me so much.”
“We gave a copy to the sisters in the hospital, and when I came there to give birth to my second daughter, the photo was still hanging in their rest room.”
Lauren’s pregnancy was complicated, and at 28 weeks she was diagnosed with preeclampsia, which caused her blood pressure to rise significantly. After examinations, it was found that the baby’s heart rate was decreasing every day, and doctors decided to resort to a cesarean section.
After the little daughter was born, all of Lauren’s fears subsided. In the end, she decided to help other parents whose children were also born prematurely. She then shared a photo of smiling Freya on the “Birth Without Fear” blog.
Since then, the photo of the little girl has spread all over the world, appearing in various social media groups and collecting many likes and reposts.
In this photo, Freya is already two years old.
“To be honest, she’s the best thing that ever happened to us. When we go to the store, she’s the friendliest, saying ‘hi’ to everyone,” Lauren says.
“She’s very funny, very happy. In that photo where she’s only 5 days old, you see her personality, and when you look at her now, you realize she hasn’t changed. She’s still that same happy child.”
The girl is now six years old. Unfortunately, we were unable to find current photos of her. But most importantly, with one of her old photos, she was able to do a lot…”