With Mother’s Day around the corner, we are reminded to appreciate all the Mothers and Mother-figures in our lives.  However, the journey to become a Mother can be difficult and wrought with physical and emotional challenges. I understand firsthand how hard this can be. Therefore this Mother’s Day, I thought I would share my personal story of how I became a mother.

All my life I’ve wanted to be a Mom. However, in the early years in my career, my main focus was starting up the business – which was very difficult and took time. Finally, in my mid-thirties, we decided it was the right time to start a family. Our first child came very easily with a smooth pregnancy and no issues. I was 35 years old at the time Hunter Landon was born and life was good!

As my husband and I got into the swing of parenthood and continuing to build our business, time went by very quickly. Before we knew it, I was getting older and moving into the “advanced maternal age.” Therefore, we needed to decide if we were going to have another child and if so, now was the time.

As with most of us, life is busy and stressful being a wife, mom, business-owner, coach, etc. We tried for over a year to get pregnant, and unlike with my son, it wasn’t as easy this time around. Sadly, I suffered two miscarriages in the process and couldn’t believe this was happening to me! It was gut-wrenching and heartbreaking. It made me question “what’s wrong with me?!” I’ve lived a healthy lifestyle my entire life and even ran the Boston Marathon five months after having my son – how can this be?

Since time was of the essence, we decided to try IVF. This is also an extremely hard process and we struggled some more. Eventually, we were blessed with ONE single viable embryo. That small embryo proved to be a fighter! I was 42 when I gave birth to our 2nd child, a girl named Reagan MacKenzie Fitzgerald.

So many women out there have had similar stories of their long journeys to motherhood. This is why it’s so important to me that we offer Women’s Health/Pelvic Floor therapy at our clinics. If you are preparing for pregnancy, currently pregnant, or post-partum, our pelvic floor specialists will help you every step of the way! Learn more about about it and our offerings here.

Yours in health,

Dr. Holly Fitzgerald

Owner and President of Fitzgerald Physical Therapy