Footage of a father holding his daughter’s hand shortly after she gave birth has the internet in tears.
“When everyone’s here to meet your baby girl but your dad is here to see his,” Deborah Gilbert wrote on her video which is going viral on TikTok and Instagram with more than 37 million views combined.
In the clip, Kwek Peng Chey is shown sitting beside Gilbert’s bed at a hospital in Singapore, while the other visitors clamor around newborn Maeve. Though his mouth is covered with a blue surgical mask, Peng Chey’s eyes are smiling.
“My husband was holding his daughter, and my dad was holding my hand, and I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, what a beautiful full circle moment,’” Gilbert, 29, tells TODAY.com.
“I don’t care what anyone says I think every girl in this world was supposed to feel this kind of love and we were ROBBED,” one person commented on Instagram.
Added another, “I almost died with my second born, my dad walked in and looked at me and just started crying. He said he didn’t want to hold my baby, he wanted to hold HIS baby.”
Several people noted that they were “sobbing” after watching the video, which is set to Ed Sheeran's tearjerker "Photograph."
Gilbert, an only child, describes Peng Chey as “shy person,” who expresses his feelings through actions.
“He’s not a man of many words — he doesn’t really say, ‘I love you,’ but he’ll ask, ‘Have you eaten today?’ 'Do you need anything?' He’s always looking after me and making sure I’m OK,” Gilbert explains. “On family walks, he’ll take my hand, and my mom is like, ‘I’m your wife! Why are you not holding my hand!?’"
“He’s not a man of many words — he doesn’t really say, ‘I love you,’ but he’ll ask, ‘Have you eaten today?’ 'Do you need anything?'”
While Gilbert was in labor, she says her dad kept texting for updates on the family group chat.
“I had to send him voice memos because I was in too much pain to type,” Gilbert shares. “I was in labor for a long time and he was worried I was going to need an emergency C-section."
Gilbert predicts her father will have a close relationship with Maeve, who was born on Aug. 29. Maeve is Peng Chey’s first grandchild, and he is excited to take her on adventures.
“He came to the hospital and said, ‘I’m plotting all the different playgrounds I can bring her to,’” Gilbert says. “He’s so excited to spend time with her.
“She’s a very lucky girl!” Gilbert adds.