Placenta what???

I think it's important to document some news we received about 12 weeks ago during our 20 week ultrasound. We know the Lord is in complete control, sovereign over every detail in our lives and we're looking expectantly to see what He will do.

To start off, our baby is doing wonderfully! He/she is growing, developing, changing just as baby should and as all parents know, this bit of news is such a relief. We are blessed to be anticipating a new life in our home!

However, we also learned that the placenta {the life sustaining organism the Lord creates for every baby to take oxygen and food from it's mother} isn't in a good spot. In fact, a really serious health risk spot if things don't change. I was told I have partial placenta previa which means that the placenta is partially covering the cervix area making it impossible for baby to come first once labor begins. Many of you know my love for babies, the natural course of the birth process and the amazingly gifted and talented women {midwives!!!} who support moms through it. This is how I desire my babies to enter the world. In a quiet, intimate birth center atmosphere with just Matt, my mom and the 2 midwives. You can read all about Allie's birth HERE and HERE if you'd like. 

Well...if this placenta previa doesn't move up the uterus wall as pregnancy progresses, then things will look dramatically different this go-round. As in a c-section. Many people wouldn't bat an eye to news like this:

*I get to meet my baby sooner? 

*I don't have to go through the pain and agony of labor? 

*I don't have to be pregnant as long? 

*Where do you sign me up? 

But I see it so differently. Not in a prideful way but more soberingly...

*My baby doesn't get to stay in the womb as long as he/she needs to? 

*I have to have a 4 day hospital stay? 

*I won't be able to deliver with midwives again (many midwives, especially my own, don't see clients for Vaginal Birth After Cesarean)? 

*I'll have to have major abdominal surgery that will not heal the same way before being cut? 

The list is long and it makes my heart hurt. But let me also say...if this is the path the Lord would choose to take us and it really would be life-threatening to the baby and myself because the placenta hasn't moved, Praise the LORD for modern technology that allows these life-saving surgeries! The alternative isn't an option. This is when c-sections are a blessing and to be embraced. I'm just praying that if we come to that point, that my heart will be in the right place.

We had another ultrasound at 30 weeks to learn that not much has changed. The placenta is still there and still partially covering. *My Heart Sank* How could this be? I was told and my researched showed that 98% of women with this condition don't stay that way. Their placentas move. And the 2% are those where the placenta has actually embedded into the cervix area or the majority of the placenta is completely covering the cervix. These women would also experience lots of bleeding, cramping and spotting. All things to which I am not.

So...you can see...we are in a place of great expectation, and dependency and walking down a road that is greatly increasing our faith and trust. What a perfect place to be! We are asking the Lord to completely move the placenta by my next ultrasound (sometime in mid-May) in order to go to Alaska to birth with our midwife again. If the Lord says no to this, we are praying that He would move it in time to have a vaginal birth here in California at our local hospital. Finally, if He chooses for me to have a cesarean, we're praying for peace as we trust Him in that decision. 

If our family comes to mind, we'd love you to join in praying for these things too! I'll keep the blog updated as we know more.

A Day to Remember

Parent Dedication Day. Asking Him for His grace, strength, wisdom and guidance as we seek to raise our daughters. To help them understand their sinful, fallen hearts that are desperately wicked {Jeremiah 17:9} and that BECAUSE of CHRIST we have an amazing HOPE! Though we are separated from Him and bound for hell...the story doesn't end there! We have an AWESOME Savior who came to earth 100% human and 100% God to live a perfect life and offer Himself as our substitute. Instead of us experiencing God's wrath eternally separated from Him, we can be welcomed into the family of God by acknowledging our sinfulness and our absolute need of Christ's righteousness {Romans 10:9&10}.

This is what we proclaimed in front of our church body today. We humbly admitted we can't parent alone! We need prayer, support, faithful friends to point out our weaknesses, failings, the things we're doing right and to offer love, encouragement and help. There's a great need for other families in the faith to come along side us. We are thankful for godly men and women who love Him and serve each other. What a blessing! 

Matt and I praise God for the two little lives He has entrusted to us. "Children are a heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is His reward" {Psalm 127:3} and we consider ourselves richly blessed to be given Reese Lanae and Allie Joelle. 

Pastor Steve introducing the 6 families represented who were dedicating their children.

After church was finished we went to Stonefire with Papa and Marmee to celebrate! Mollie and Spencer came too...I just didn't get a picture with them.

Eating some really yummy food! Reese loved that she got to sit next to Papa and Marmee on the other side of where mom and dad were. ;)

Papa's first granddaughter...a girl after his own heart! 

The youngest cutie loves to give 

cheesy smiles for the camera!

Thank you Papa and Marmee for coming to Placerita today to witness the girls' dedication. What a privilege to have you there to witness this event. We know you (and Nana and Poppy Ryan) have been loving and praying for our girls since the day you found out they were on the way. We love you!

Please Welcome your Guest Blogger...

Hey everyone out in the blog world,


Yes, this is Matt Mehringer (aka "Bubba" by Ash or "Daddy" from Reese-roo). Don't worry or fret because I am not hijacking my wife's blog. This is good news because: 1) she is a wonderful blogger and I love reading her posts, 2) my blog would not be as descriptive, fun or colorful as hers and 3) I won't have to sleep out in the doghouse even though we currently don't own a dog, cat, hamster or fish.


Why I am writing on her blog? Ah yes, an excellent question deserving of a honest answer. First, I have received her permission to do so. Second (here's your answer that you all are waiting for....drum roll please), Ash was away most of Saturday and that meant I was flying solo (but not like Hans, he had some help in that sci-fi tale). Ash has been reading a great book called God's Priorities for Today's Woman: Discovering His Plan for You by Lisa Hughes (ladies you should buy this book and then read it). About a month ago, we discovered she would be the speaker at our church's women's conference, and I told her she had to go. 
She liked this idea, though she doesn't like being away from her girls. I then informed her that I would take expert care of them. I'm not sure if she was fully confident in the expert part, but she felt relatively confident in my paternal abilities (Sports analogy side note: My youngest Allie knows I am only the Carolina Panther's backup quarterback, mommy is Cam Newton). That just means Allie would miss mom as she is the starter, but we would ultimately survive game day. 

Sticking with the sports theme, here are the top 10 highlights (and observations) from Saturday's day with my little treasures: 

10. I love reading books with Reese. We read her two favorites on Saturday which were The Little Engine That Could and Llama Llama Red Pajama. There are both excellent stories and Reese really loves the pictures. The latter of these toddler tales will leave you tongue tied!


9. We definitely spent some great time wrestling together (it was kind of a cloudy and cool day, so we were inside for most of it). I have to be kind of careful here, because Allie is only crawling and Reese thinks she can be King Kong as she climbs all over me. That means I have to keep an eye out on little Allie as she tries to involve herself in the action. She fends for herself well, but sometimes is a little timid due to Reese's crazy jumps on daddy. 

8. Dora the Explorer is a pretty cool show. We try to let Reese watch one episode a day (25 minutes or so). We might have watched two episodes...maybe three, but I really think it was only two. Good news: Dora and Boots find Pablo's long lost flute or flauta in Spanish. A great part of this show is there are a couple of seasons on Apple TV, so no need to pay cable!

7. Who doesn't love PB&J? Reese and I do. Ash always says I put on too much peanut butter and jelly, but that's what makes them the best! With a cold glass of whole milk...ahhh, what a lunch. On the younger side, Miss Allie did a great job eating her pureed vegetables and some type of delicious Gerber meat with gravy. 


6. We were able to play together with some of the blocks and toys, though we are working with Reese to share more with Allie. Allie is generally pretty patient with Reese, which is a blessing. "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity" (Psalm 133:1, ESV). I bet King David means general humanity here, because sisters should be included too. 


5. I took a little break to see about the results from the Auburn spring football game. Reese saw the website and said "Auburn!" She is growing up to be such a wise lady. War Eagle! 

4. We took a great walk and I thought we were going to the park, but the rain from the following night prevented that from happening. Reese was a little sad, but that's how life goes. We still had a fun time in the stroller as we walked around the block. I made sure to dress them warmly as it was a bit chilly and windy (thank you Lord for not allowing them to be sick). 

3. I love my little Allie so much. She kind of slouches in the stroller and looks like an old man who needs a rest. I try to prop her up, but a minute or two later she is back in the same position. Allie is content to look at the world and is her daddy's sweetheart. 

2. Being a mommy is no easy job. Hilary Rosen (from recent political controversy) needs to spend some time around young children as her comments are utterly ridiculous.


1. Thank you faithful Lord for Ashley and all the time, energy and devotion she puts into raising our children. "The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down" (Proverbs 14:1, ESV). Thank you Lord for her wisdom (in my opinion folly is a foreign word to Ash) and for her amazing example to my little girls.  


Well, my spring break is just about over, but this Saturday is just one picture of all the joy and wonder I shared with them. Thanks for letting me guest blog on this LONG post. Hope you enjoyed it. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. 

To Him be the Glory...not me!

Some days are weary, challenging, emotional, exhausting. I wish I could tell you that in those moments every time I cry out to the Lord for my strength, for His portion, for His enabling hand to hold me. 

Instead, I search within myself to find weakness, frailty and pride in thinking I somehow can do it on my own. Foolishness. I was told many times over that God uses marriage to sanctify His people. As true as that is in my life, I've found that parenthood is the ultimate sanctifying tool! My prayer is that I would quickly come to Him with my failings. That He would be on my heart and mind as I go about my day raising our girls. Our God is so kind to not give us more than we can bear!

I'm praying that His glory will be on display in my life this week.

39 weeks

6 more days until the date that babycenter.com told me way back on November 7th we could possibly see our girl. It's amazing to think the time has come. So many prayers, so many thoughts, emotions, conversations and desires leading up to this point. 

What a faithful and loving God I serve! He met me when I was at a very low point in this pregnancy just a week ago. All the thoughts and feelings and emotions came to a head where I was just too overwhelmed to think anymore. The Lord so graciously reminded me that I just needed to stop. To pray. To get on my knees and completely let go and surrender this birth to Him! Through a conversation with my midwife, the Lord reminded me that He has designed and created me to do this! I have everything I need to birth this baby and when I'm at my weakest point and feel as though I can't go on, He will be there to offer His grace, strength and endurance. After hearing these words, I just sat back and sighed deeply. I've wrongfully tried to shoulder this burden on my own and really have just been living in my own strength. It's through Christ and His blood that I have forgiveness of this sin...not trusting and depending on Him! This too brought such great relief. After pouring out my heart in prayer, God showed Himself in Psalm 63. I plan to have Matt read this many times throughout labor. The truth is so powerful. 

"when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me."

How incredible that the words King David wrote so many hundreds of years ago still apply to me today! God is my help. I can safely trust in Him and His right hand will uphold me.

My 39 week appointment was encouraging! Things are starting to happen. I'm 40% effaced and 1 1/2 cm dilated. Her head is still pretty high (at about a -2 station for those who know what that means) so I've been instructed to keep walking 45-50 minutes every day. Judi doesn't forsee Allie arriving before my due date but she did say that you never know what can happen. She just needs to drop and things could go quickly from there. 

So we continue to wait and enjoy this time with just 3 of us. My sister and her boyfriend arrive tonight. I'm really excited to meet Stephen and to finally see Diana after 11 months!

Some things I've been up to

starting January 1st I really wanted to be purposeful in having my Bible reading and quiet time every day. This has always been a challenge for me to not miss a day but it has especially escalated since Reese entered the picture. I found myself thinking that if I even got to pray during the day, that was a triumph. My personal walk, marriage and even friendships really started to feel the strain of that thinking. The Lord graciously worked on my heart to show me that I need Him and His word continually and I should be desperate for it even when I don't feel well, when the house is messy, the dishes are still in the sink or I find that there are so many more "needed" things to get done. I am so thankful for the Lord's mercy and kindness as I realized my sin in doing this thing called motherhood on my own strength. So...to keep myself accountable and to have a portion for every day of the year I started the "MacArthur Daily Bible." So far, it's been wonderful. I think the last time I read through the Old Testament was in college. It's been a long time and I find myself sad to have to stop reading for the day (not that I technically have to but I want to stay on track and not take away from the next day).

Here's a plug for my old stomping grounds, Grace To You. If you're in need of a good devotional, want to read through the Bible in a year or just want the every day accountability like me, I highly recommend this tool! So thankful for John's insight and helps while you read.

It wasn't necessarily a resolution but I knew that once I started feeling better in this pregnancy it was time to hit the exercise hard. I did this dvd while I was pregnant with Reese and two weeks ago decided it was time to pull it out again. Silly me...I thought there would be no problem getting back into it and that I actually might need to find something else just to intensify things. Well, and my husband can vouch for me, I looked pretty pathetic around here for about a week...like a really old lady struggling to pull herself up kind of look. I'm feeling a lot stronger now and actually notice a spring in my step. Erin O'Brien is great and I'm starting to look forward to our times together. :)

If you're looking for a good chocolate icing recipe for Valentine's Day or any occasion for that matter, I recommend this one from Pioneer Woman's blog. So Good! I didn't get any pictures of the finished product but it turned out great (disclaimer: she does say somewhere that it goes on thick and she's right...you need to work quickly once it comes off the stove). The nice part about it is that it's only 3 ingredients. I didn't try making the yellow cake (I was using up a box that had been in my pantry WAY too long) but being that she's Pioneer Woman and her recipes are A-mazing I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Did I mention that I'm on a sugar fast? I sound like my friend Polly. :) You would be too, though, if you had been consuming the amounts of sugar I was just last week. I don't know what it was but 7 cupcakes in 3 days, eating frosting out of the tub with a spoon and a piece of fruit pizza later, I had to take drastic measures. So I haven't had anything since Saturday...that's 6 days so far. I realize that I started this right before one of the most sugar-filled holidays we celebrate but I'm letting myself have one thing and then it's back to my fast. I'm not sure how long this will go...but definitely for awhile. The idea of gestational diabetes scares me to no end, plus I know all of this isn't good for our baby. It must be pregnancy because I'm not like this....I never think about food this much. This could also be why it was so necessary to kick exercising into high gear. :)

Lastly, baby has been moving way more in the past few days (since being off sugar...it's not a sugar-induced spurt of energy :)). I believe this is my very favorite aspect of being pregnant. It creates such a bond whenever I feel this little person kick. In 17 days, we get to watch him/her do all this moving around and hopefully find out what we're having! I can't wait. My friend Amanda said it right, other than the birth day, ultrasound day is her favorite and I would have to agree.

Thanks for bearing with me through this post...just some fun, random thoughts I thought I'd share. :) Happy Friday!!