Facebook photo of newborn next to mum's C-section scar draws raves and rants

When British photographer Helen Carmina posted images of a three-day-old baby lying beneath his mother's scar from an emergency caesarean, she had no idea the picture would get thousands of responses from across the world.

Take a look at the photos posted on Facebook and you will understand why it touched so many hearts. The baby's head is resting on the mother's pubic bone and just above it, is the C-section scar.

Carmina also wrote on Facebook, "I photographed this mama's pregnancy a couple of weeks back and she was telling me how terrified she was of having a C-section. Well, over the weekend she went into labour but had to have an emergency C-section after losing a lot of blood. She asked me to come over this morning and shoot this particular image as her worst nightmare proved to be what saved her and her son's lives."

Since this image was uploaded on 11 August, the picture has got over 220,000 likes, 65,000 shares and 31,000 comments. More than 10 million people have viewed the powerful photo. Some have praised it, while some others have called it distasteful and demanded that Facebook remove the image. However, the social media giant has done nothing.

Carmina said she got a lot of positive responses from women who had to undergo C-section surgeries. "I have received so so many stories from C-section mums saying how it has changed the way they look at their scars. I can't believe the amount of women that are ashamed of their scars and are made to feel like they haven't done the job properly because they didn't give birth naturally. I feel proud that an image I created has allowed so many people to open up about their experiences," the photographer said.