Angela and Michael Bakker were overjoyed when they learned that they were expecting a baby girl. However, their dream took a nightmarish turn when Angela gave birth 15 weeks prematurely. Since Angela was only 25 weeks along in her pregnancy when she gave birth to baby Naomi Joy, the infant’s chances of survival were very low.

Staffers at the Renown Regional Medical Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit worked tirelessly to keep Naomi alive. After two weeks of Naomi living in an incubator, Angela and Michael were finally allowed to touch her for the first time. Prior to that, Angela and Michael had only been able to touch Naomi briefly as she lay inside her plastic NICU bubble.

Though Angela and Michael wanted nothing more than to hold their baby girl, they had been too afraid of hurting her before then to try. However, doctors explained to them that this type of skin-to-skin contact is known as kangaroo care, and it helps a preemie baby’s development. Though Naomi still weighed less than a pound, doctors thought her condition had stabilized enough that she could be held. So they handed her over to her mother.

If you look at Angela’s face the moment she first holds Naomi, you’ll see the pure joy of a mother who finally gets to hold her baby. For the next 128 days that Naomi was in the hospital, Angela and Michael were able to hold the baby every day as the “kangaroo care” worked like a charm! Thanks to the work of the doctors and the rest of the hospital staffers, Naomi is now a happy, healthy, normal little girl!

Check out the first time Angela held Naomi in the video below, and SHARE this story so your friends and family can see it as well!