An Ohio mom has revealed the heartbreaking reason she kept an ultrasound scan of her twins displayed on her refrigerator for more than three years after losing one of the babies.

Thirty-five-year-old DeAnna Boughman, who has four children aged 22, 7, 5 and 3 with husband Jeremy, 43, captured the moment she was finally ready to take down the sonogram she kept in the same spot since learning she was expecting twins.

The decision marked the end of a deeply personal chapter following the death of her daughter, Arabella.

DeAnna told Newsweek that for years, she and Jeremy dreamt about the possibility of having twins.

"They run on both sides of our family, and when I became pregnant during a time I never expected I could, discovering we were expecting twins felt like an answered prayer," she said.

The scan quickly became a treasured symbol of hope and joy, but after Arabella died, it took on an entirely different meaning.

"I couldn't bear to take it down," DeAnna said. "Every time I walked into my kitchen and saw those two tiny babies together, I was reminded that God had been faithful before my world fell apart."

The ultrasound remained on the family's fridge throughout the excitement of pregnancy, the twins' birth, the devastation of loss and the difficult years that followed.

"I wasn't ready to take it down, and I don't think that's something I needed to force or rush," DeAnna said.

Making the decision to remove it was not a sign that she was moving on from her daughter. Instead, it reflected a change in how she carried her grief.

DeAnna said that the ultrasound is still "incredibly precious" and she has it stored away for safekeeping.

She shared the moment she was ready to remove the sonogram from its years-long place in a reel on Instagram (@deanna.boughman).

It has since gone viral on the platform, garnering more than 360,000 views.

Today, DeAnna hopes her story offers reassurance to other grieving parents who may feel pressure to heal according to other people's timelines.

"I've learned that grief isn't something we overcome by loving less," she said. "We grieve deeply because we love deeply, and that love doesn't disappear when the person we love dies. We simply have to learn how to tend to a love that can no longer be expressed in all the ways it once was. There is no deadline on love."

While the ultrasound no longer hangs on her refrigerator, its significance remains unchanged.

"If leaving the ultrasound on my refrigerator for three and a half years reminds even one grieving person that God is faithful in the valley and that they don't have to force healing, then sharing our story will have been worth it," DeAnna said.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Kara Dolman and Emma Lee-Sang