Image of Jesus Christ Appears 'Watching Over' Unborn Baby in Sonogram: 'It's a Blessing'

Aug 24, 2017 10:16 AM EDT

While looking at the sonogram of their baby, a Tennessee couple was astounded to see what appeared to be a clear image of Jesus Christ - dressed in a robe with a crown of thorns - watching over their unborn daughter.

Alicia Zeek told Fox43 that she and her husband, Zac, went in for the ultrasound ahead of the birth of their baby girl, Brielle, and couldn't believe what they saw on the sonogram.

"I blinked a lot, to kinda make sure I was really seeing it..." she said of her initial reaction. "When they gave it to us... Umm, to me, it's Jesus. And it looks like Jesus."

Her husband added, "This is distinct-- I mean, there's another face looking at my daughter! When I saw it, it almost brought tears to my eyes... I was speechless, I just couldn't believe it, I really didn't believe what I was seeing."

The parents say while they aren't very religious, the image gave them hope, as Alicia experienced a series of complications with her first two children. Her first daughter was born with pre-axial polydactyl-- meaning she had two thumbs on one hand - while her second child, a boy, was born with a cleft lip and palate.

However, Brielle was born last week - perfectly healthy, according to the BBC.

"Once [the technician] said everything is good and we looked at the picture, I was like-- look babe, we have nothing to worry about," Zac said, adding that whether the image is an "angel or God or Jesus, however you want to propose it, I look at it as my blessing."

This is not the first time an expecting couple has claimed to see Jesus in their baby's sonogram; last year, Aley Meyer of Evansville, Indiana, said she started noticing the image of the Son of God in the sonogram only after someone pointed it out to her during a baby shower.

"We took a picture of it and blew it up on my phone to get a closer look and it is so much detail. You can see the hair and his legs crossed and everything," Meyer exclaimed.

"Everybody was just shocked, everybody was like, 'I have to see that, I have to see that," she continued. "I think it's pretty amazing."

She added that the image could be a message from God: "I've been on a lot of medicine for my Chron's disease and I've been very worried about it, so I feel like it's a sign that everything's going to be OK with him," Meyer said.

In December of 2011, a New York pastor shared an ultrasound of his 19-week-old son in the womb, who appeared to be striking the "tebowing" pose, made popular by pro-life champion and Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow.