Ashley Ryan, wife of New York Giants free safety Logan Ryan, shared Wednesday in her Instagram stories that she had emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy earlier this week after checking into the emergency room for abdominal pain.
"The rollercoaster of 2020 continues," Ashley wrote in her post, explaining that after the November 2 Monday Night Football game between the Giants and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, she spoke with Logan on the phone, telling him she'd been having extreme pain in her abdomen. "Logan had just left the facility after getting post-game treatment and texted one of the Giants' trainers about what was going on."
Ashley, who had returned to the family's home in Florida to cast her vote in the 2020 presidential election, said the team trainer was insistent that she go to the emergency room. When she did, she learned that despite having an IUD as birth control, she was pregnant.
"The chances of this are less than 1%," she wrote. "Obviously this wasn't in the plans, but we laughed and wrapped our heads around the idea of becoming parents again."
Shortly after, the couple received heartbreaking news.
"About an hour later, the lightness dimmed as I noticed my ultrasound tech was very quiet and my pain was getting worse," Ashley wrote. "The pregnancy was ectopic and had implanted in my fallopian tube. The pregnancy was not viable and we learned that the tube had ruptured. I had to have emergency surgery ... to remove the ectopic pregnancy and stop the internal bleeding."
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, an ectopic pregnancy is a potentially life-threatening condition that occurs when a fertilized egg grows outside of the uterus. Symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy are abnormal vaginal bleeding, abdominal or lower back pain and mild cramping on one side of the pelvis.
Ashley said she and her husband — who share two children, Avery, 5, and Otto Dash, 2 — may have named the baby Ozzy, a name Ashley had picked out for a third child.
In a Zoom call this week, Logan spoke about Ashley's surgery and recovery, telling reporters that the advice of Giants trainer Justin Mayer, "could have saved her life."
"(The hospital) ended up saving her and ended up preventing a lot of what could have been done," said Logan. "My kids are OK. My wife is recovering well. She's OK."
In her Instagram post, Ashley said she's recovering in Florida.
"I'm so thankful for a husband who smiled at the potentially life-changing news of an unexpected pregnancy and was on board and ready for an adventure even though it wasn't in the plans," she wrote. "Logan's support never waivers. His strength gives me strength and our hearts are so aligned."
