A woman from Florida had her dream of raising a child realized after 14 years of struggling with infertility.

Brittney Lee Zirkle, 33, posted a reel on Instagram (@myprettyinfertilelife), detailing her journey of devastating losses, life-threatening complications and heartbreak when trying to conceive. But after years of persistence, Zirkle overcame her struggles with fertility and gave birth to a baby girl.

Zirkle’s battle with infertility started when she was 17 after joining the army and deploying in Iraq. After being dismissed by professionals, she endured excruciating pain and unexplained infertility, only to find out that she had stage 4 endometriosis nearly a decade later.

Her first pregnancy was supposed to be a dream come true, but instead, it became a nightmare. After undergoing emergency surgery for a ruptured abdominal pregnancy, she discovered she was still pregnant due to rising HCG levels. Despite being advised to hold on to the pregnancy, she soon faced the same painful symptoms again.

“This is how I found out I was pregnant with triplets but would lose them all,” Zirkle told Newsweek.

The experience was more than physically agonizing, it was emotionally devastating: “The amount of pain I suffered through for weeks because no one would take me seriously.”

“I was slowly dying due to my babies being in the wrong places. It was one of the worst things I have ever been through—a total nightmare. I was heartbroken and defeated and wanted to give up,” she said.

Years after her ectopic pregnancies, Zirkle consulted an infertility specialist and was told that she had no eggs left and should consider an egg bank.

Her fiancé at the time wasn’t ready for children, but Zirkle didn’t have time to wait. “We called off the relationship and I pursued motherhood on my own. My dream since I was a little girl was to become a mom, and nothing was going to stop me from that,” she said.

Zirkle started her journey as a single mom by choice by doing several rounds of IVF alone. Doctors doubted that she would be able to produce viable embryos, but she refused to give up.

She did two rounds using her own eggs which made four embryos, something they said she would never be able to do, but unfortunately the embryo transfer failed.

Shortly after, a cancer scare led to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) diagnosis, pushing her to overhaul her lifestyle. She then gave IVF another shot.

“With a lot of hard work, I did two more rounds of IVF where I had 27 eggs retrieved and seven genetically normal embryos. I transferred my best embryo which was a good/good hatching female and prayed for her to stay,” Zirkle said.

When her daughter, Hannah Lee, was born, her life changed forever. “I am so thankful I fought for my miracle baby,” Zirkle said. “I gave every ounce of strength, determination, and courage I had just for a chance to have a child of my own. She was worth every shot.”