Baby photo show's mom's long and painful journey to motherhood

ST. LOUIS -- A fertility clinic in St. Louis has shared a photo depicting one mom's long and painful journey to motherhood.

The picture, submitted by a mother named Angela, shows her infant daughter surrounded by a heart-shaped mess of vials and syringes -- the many instruments and tools she says it took her to conceive her child.

The post prompted many other mothers of in-vitro babies to post their own photos and struggles.

"Didn't even tell my husband what this was, I just handed him my phone," Sara Husson said of the post. "I saw tears form in his eyes as he probably also went through the memories of countless nights, over our four year journey, that he gave me shots. We finally were successful with twin boys and I've never been happier!"

"After long year of unsuccessful fertility treatments I finally got pregnant after my first IVF cycle," commenter Angela Fry wrote. "At 30 weeks I gave birth to triplets. Today, they are happy, healthy, crazy 2.5 year olds. For anyone that is struggling to conceive, please know my heart is with you."

"My heart has never been so full to see a picture like this! The journey is never fun but that sweet baby at the end is worth it all! God bless this little lady and her family!" Christina Bianchi wrote.

The Sher Institutes, a national network of fertility clinics that posted the photo, says it "shows the true definition of love that went into making this gorgeous new baby girl."

Dr. Molina Dayal told ABC News that those weren't even all the supplies the mother used to conceive. The mother, Dayal said, had been through multiple IVF cycles over the course of a year and a half.

"The needles were the easy part. It was the emotional struggle, the ups and downs, that really took a toll," Angela said to ABC News. "I'm single and waited a long time for a husband to come. And then by that time it was difficult to get pregnant."

The Sher Institutes has eight clinics in the U.S.