One of the days that’s special to most women is Mother’s Day.
As young girls and ladies, they look forward to Mother’s Day so they can celebrate and pamper their mothers. And at the back of their minds, they can’t wait to celebrate this special day as mothers themselves.
This Mother’s Day, May 8, 2022, is extra special to Ashley Gildin Spitzer because, after four years of struggling with infertility, she finally gets to celebrate it as a mother.
Ashley and her husband, Jon, were on the same page. They wanted a family. They couldn’t wait to have kids that will call them Mom and Dad.
But Ashley was diagnosed with unexplained infertility and they had trouble conceiving the natural way.
They decided to continue with fertility treatments.
“It was an emotional rollercoaster. It was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting,” Ashley told TODAY. “Countless procedures and surgeries. More tears than I’d like to admit.”
Their infertility journey was a whirlwind of emotions.
It tested their marriage, their finances, and their mental health.
“This is Infertility,” Ashley wrote on her Facebook post. “It’s smiling through the physical discomfort and emotional pain, when all you want to do is scream. It’s the hundreds of pills, shots, needles, supplements –and all the hormonal changes that come with them. It’s the weekly infusions, it’s the hoping immune treatments might finally be your answer. It’s the bruises and the allergic reactions, the surgeries, the scars and battle wounds. It’s compulsively peeing on a stick, overanalyzing lines, finally getting a positive test, then watching the line fade away. It’s the hysterical tears that flow like a river, the days when you ask yourself “why me!?” and the nights when you cry yourself to sleep wondering if the nightmare will ever end.”
But Ashley endured all that so that they could have their family. But there was a point where Ashley reached her limit.
And it was at this point that they turned to surrogacy and they were so excited.
Unfortunately, their surrogate miscarried their embryos twice.
“I really felt like we hit rock bottom,” Ashley shared. “We were basically starting all over.”
And they did.
They never stopped trying but it was like starting all over again every time.
Until one day, their luck changed.
“After three very long years, after just one day, we had found out that Ashley was pregnant on her sixth IVF cycle,” Jon recalled. “And that our second surrogate was a genetic match and we could continue to move forward with her. And that was just one of the best days of our lives.”
From zero babies, they now have two babies on the way!
However, at 33 weeks, the doctors found their baby in distress and Ashley had to deliver their baby daughter via C-Section on July 15, 2021.
She had to spend 47 days at the NICU before going home with them on August 31, 2021. Her name is Izabel Hart Spitzer.
“The first morning we woke up with her in the apartment, and we were just both staring at her,” Ashley shared. “We could not believe we had a baby at home.”
But they only got to enjoy being with Izabel before they had to fly to Florida so they could meet Izabel’s brother, who was born on November 17, 2021. His name is Zander Cole.
The “twiblings” are complete.
Their family is now complete.
“This Mother’s Day, I cannot be more proud for calling myself an IVF, NICU, and surrogacy mom. I really wouldn’t change a thing,” Ashley proudly declared.
Would you like to hear more about Ashley’s infertility journey and how it has made a difference for other women going through the same journey? Watch the video below.
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