About the Fund

Nearly all diabetes related birth defects and losses can be prevented with good blood glucose control before and during pregnancy.

March 9,1998, Ashlyn Ellen Pfister was stillborn because of maternal Diabetes Mellitus.

One year later we established the Ashlyn Fund with the help of the University of Cincinnati Foundation for the purpose of raising awareness in the public and in the medical community to the importance of "tight control" of blood sugar as it relates to pregnancy.

The Fund will work through the College of Medicine and the Perinatal Center at the University to provide educational materials and fund lectures for diabetic women of child-bearing age. Equally important in its task, the fund will help fund lectures to the medical community so that doctors are familiar with the most up to date recommendations for caring for diabetic pregnant women to ensure a live, healthy child.

A small amount of the fund proceeds will also go to research in this area.

Our Story

March 8, 1998. This day changed our lives forever. We were expecting our second child-we were 39 weeks along. The day started good. Though I'd had some lower back pain during the night, it wasn't unbearable. It was Sunday morning, so we went to church just as we always do. When we got home, I was getting a little more uncomfortable. My abdomen felt like it was in a constant state of contraction. We called the doctor and he suggested we go to the hospital "and get hooked up to a monitor just to be safe". We were excited, thinking, "This may be it!" We even grabbed the camera, "just in case". We arrived at the hospital around 1:00 in the afternoon and embarked on the worst day of our lives as parents, as husband and wife and just as human beings in general.

When the nurses put the monitor to my abdomen, they could not find a heartbeat. When the resident on call came in, he confirmed that our child was dead. The cause of death: diabetes mellitus - maternal. How could this be? I had taken good care of myself! I went to the doctor whenever he said. I faxed my blood sugars to my endocrinologist weekly and saw my endocrinologist monthly. I took my insulin on time and did everything they said. Then, why wasn't this enough? I was given an injection to induce labor and was in labor all night. Finally at 6:00 am on March 9, 1998 our second daughter was delivered by caesarian section. This is the day we celebrate as her birthday. Her name is Ashlyn Ellen Pfister. She weighed 10 pounds, was 20 inches long and beautiful.

March 9 was also the day I was scheduled for my first and only non-stress test, a test that may have alerted us to a problem with our baby. I would find out later that with a diabetic, this test, ideally, should be done much earlier in the pregnancy and more than just once.

We were told by our doctor, a general obstetrician, that if we wanted to have more children, he would refer us to a specialist; someone specializing in diabetes and pregnancy. Unfortunately for us and many other families, we didn't know that such specialists existed. We feel we were so fortunate with our first daughter. She was 9 pounds at birth-this was a sign that my diabetes was not as well controlled as it should have been for pregnancy.

After a lot of contemplation and praying we decided to see this specialist. We learned so much! Women who have diabetes and are planning to become pregnant need to practice very tight blood sugar control not only during pregnancy but pre-conceptually. We became pregnant again in 2000. We had much more testing and monitoring of the baby-numerous non-stress tests, home monitoring, many, many more doctor visits (I was also on an insulin pump now, for greater control of my diabetes). I was even hospitalized for five weeks to be able to closely monitor this baby daily. It was all worth it because almost 3 years to the day later, March 5, 2001, our third child (another daughter) was born weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces and 19 inches long.

We miss Ashlyn terribly. We miss having our three daughters together. Our family will never be complete but Ashlyn's short life may help another family: The Ashlyn Fund was created out of a sense of grief, a sense of loss, and a sense of need to:

… Do something to work through our grief.
… "Immortalize" our daughter, though she will always live in our hearts.
… Educate women with diabetes about the effects of diabetes on pregnancy and the specialized care that is needed before and during pregnancy.

Our intent is to prevent even one person from experiencing a loss like ours. Nearly all diabetes-related birth defects and losses can be prevented with "tight" blood glucose control before and during pregnancy.

- Rob, Andrea, Casey and Morgan Pfister