It was seven days before Ashley Crandell could hold all four of her quadruplets, who were born 9 weeks early. Ashely and Lance Crandell of Queen Creek certainly have their hands full these days and their hearts no doubt feel the same way. Ashley holding her brand new quadruplets said:” It’s a lot of work, four babies is a lot of babies, but we feel very b.lessed to have them and be their parents.“
Ashley Crandell, 36, and her husband, Lance, 41, struggled with secondary infertility for nearly four years, after getting pregnant right away with their first child, Isla, who is now 5. Ashley said:” There was a point where I thought we were never going to be able to give Isla a sibling and I was devastated. I always wanted a big family. I tried to stay positive, but at certain points I was like, OK. This just isn’t going to happen. Our bodies aren’t working.” Crandell found out that she has polycystic ovarian syndrome or P.C.O.S, and Lance has low sperm motility, and both conditions contributed to their fertility issues.
That’s when they turned to a fertility treatment called I.U.I. A process that places Lance’s sperm directly into Ashley’s uterus. A last-ditch effort prior to in vitro fertilization. Ashley said:” We tried for three and a half years before we decided to try I.U.I with our doctor and it worked that first try and I think everybody was shocked” .
Ashley said:” I’m gonna start crying just thinking about it. When you’re pregnant with quadruplets, it’s hard to fathom that there are four humans in there. I saw them on ultrasounds every week, but it’s not the same. So when I held them, it was like, ‘Wow, these are all my babies. They all belong to me.’ Somehow, I was gifted with this amazing blessing of having all four of these perfect babies at one time. The only thing that could have made the moment better is if my oldest had been there, too.”
