while loop does not pick up again on continue

Hey everyone,

I've created a script that allows a player to continue after watching an ad. My Spawn Coroutines are based on a "while loop" everything on continue works great EXCEPT the spawn routines do not pick back up, they remain stuck where ever it was when the player died. I'll post 1 of the spawn routine while loops, the command that calls the spawn routines in the first place and the continue button script itself. I don't see why this wouldn't properly continue, so I'm hoping a fresh set of eyes will help.

here is the spawn routine itself

public IEnumerator MerchantSpawnRoutine() {

     while (GameManager.gameManager.gameOver == false)
     {
         if (UIManager.uIManager.pauseMenuVisible == true)
         {
             yield return null;
         }
         else
         {                
             yield return new WaitForSeconds(Random.Range(1, 3));
             if (UIManager.uIManager.score >= 0)
             {
                 Instantiate(_hardMerchantTop, new Vector3(Random.Range(-1.5f, 1.2f), 5.6f, 0), Quaternion.identity);
             }   
         }
     }
 }

here is the Game Manager

public bool gameOver = false;

private void Start() {

     Instantiate(player);
     AudioSource.PlayClipAtPoint(_ninjaStartSFX, transform.position);
     gameOver = false;
     SpawnManager.spawnManager.StartSpawnRoutines();        
 }

and here is the continue script (I won't post all of it just the part for the ad being watched

public void ShowAd() {

     ShowAdCallbacks options = new ShowAdCallbacks();
     options.finishCallback = HandleShowResult;
     ShowAdPlacementContent ad = Monetization.GetPlacementContent(placementID) as ShowAdPlacementContent;
     ad.Show(options);
 }

 void HandleShowResult (ShowResult result)
 {
     if (result == ShowResult.Finished)
     {
         UIManager.uIManager.Continue();
         Player.ninja.lives = 3;
         UIManager.uIManager.UpdateLives(Player.ninja.lives);
        
     }

THANKS!