The last six months

Dear Blog,

Boy have I neglected you. This might be the longest I have gone without updating you.  I do hope that you forgive me for my neglect, and I promise that I will attempt to do better updating you.  The last six months have been quiet the whirlwind for our family, thus taking my attention away.  As I stated in my last post, we welcomed the 4th addition to our family in February. Our bouncing baby boy!  As if that was not reason enough to distract me from you dear blog, we also had an international move, nothing shy of a monumental feat when you are moving six people from South Korea to South Carolina.  With that being said, I will give you a brief synopsis of what has been going on.

February:  We welcomed our sweet baby boy, Zachary Payton Frank to the family. He completed the Frank family and we look forward to our life with three princesses and one prince.

March:  March was like most months in South Korea, COLD!  Rick spent most of the month in the field and I spent most of the month taking care of four children, three of which are three and under!

April:  Once again nothing huge and monumental, and no reason I didn't blog except for the baby keeping me busy.  We did have to move out of our house for two weeks while some repairs were being done and we lived in a hotel (on the governments dime).  Our household goods were boxed up and loaded onto a truck which would then see them to the port and onto a boat bound for South Carolina.

May:  Back in our house, we had no furniture and no toys for the kids, but it was finally nice outside so we spent lots of time playing at the park.  By the end of may we were back into the hotel and waiting to leave South Korea. The home we have had for the last four years and the country where I delivered the three smallest children.  This will forever hold a soft spot in my heart because it was here that we grew as a family and welcomed our sweet children into the world. It was also where we received the shock of our lives when we found out we were going to welcome a 4th child, our only son!  I had a love hate relationship with South Korea, but I can say I would go back again!


June: Bon Voyage!  The Frank left South Korea enroute to South Carolina.  South Carolina, what can I say about that except it is the South. I have come to believe that I am not a Southern Girl in the true meaning of the word. I might be better suited for cities and a little less country. We arrived in South Carolina and quickly got established. We signed the lease on our house, got cell phones, purchased a vehicle for Rick, purchased furniture for the children and dining room, went on vacation to Myrtle Beach, returned home, took another weekend to Myrtle Beach, had speech testing on Henley, unpacked and unpacked some more.  It is a blur of a month. The children did great on the flight and we couldn't have asked for a more smooth transition.

July: The month of July was spent mostly in the Columbia area while we acclimated to the new environment and the kids started settling down and Rick reported to school in Augusta, Georgia.  We went through more speech testing on Henley, not once but twice in order for our Insurance to cover therapy sessions.  We visited Savannah for a weekend and spent time at the Zoo, Monkey Joe's Bounce house, and the kiddie pool in our backyard.  July too went by quickly and as we enter August, we will see the start of 3rd Grade for Natalie, Pre-K for Gabby (taught by Mom), speech therapy for Henley and Zachary will turn 1/2 a yr old.

Here are some pictures to recap the months of June and July. The other months are on the laptop with Rick in Augusta, GA and I am at home in South Carolina.

This is how I rolled through the airport.  One on the front and one on the back! 

We split the kids 2 and 2. I got these two little guys.

Rick got Natalie and Henley. They slept most of the flight. I wish I could say I was that lucky.

Zach's first trip to the beach proved to be a relaxing time.

All smiles after a brief nap.

PIRATES!!! We went on a pirate cruise for kids and the girls were transformed into pirates for the day.

Playing in the sprinkler in our clothes

A trip to the children's museum one night.

This lil (big) boy turned 5 months old!

We went fishing at a lake one weekend, unfortunately we didn't catch any fish.

We took the girls back to their natural habitat, the zoo.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

We make funny faces!!

Experiencing first pony rides.

First bites of cereal!

Zachary Payton Frank

Zachary Payton Frank was born February 8, 2013 at 12:50 a.m.  Zachary is our fourth child and only boy.  He was born in Seoul, South Korea at Brian Allgood Hospital (aka 121).  Little Zach completes our family and his birth solidifies his place as the last child.  This birth was unlike any of the other three and the most traumatic experience to date.  A recap of the last two and half weeks of pregnancy and his birth:

My mom arrived on January 21, 2013. She came to celebrate Natalie's 8th Birthday and to help out with the kids and be here for Zach's arrival.  Zach was due February 17 and we were hoping he came earlier than his due date because she was staying thru March 7.  I am so thankful she did arrive early.  I had been having rapid heart beats and palpitations for several weeks before she arrived. I never said anything to the doctor or Rick until I almost passed out with the kids at a store.  It was a horrible feeling and I finally decided to tell the doctor. I was immediately given an EKG and a NST (non stress test). During the EKG my heart happened to go into one of the "episodes". My heart rate shot into the 150's from 75 and only got worse from there. I was released from the EKG and sent up to the maternity ward for the NST. When they got me hooked up to the monitors my heart rate was 186 and stayed there for almost 45 min while the OB called around to see who would take me in the hospital and how to get it treated. 121 does not have a NICU and if you have problems before 36 weeks they are unable to help and send you to the local hospital. Fortunately, I was 36 weeks, but the objective is to leave the baby in as long as possible. The maternity floor does not have the ability to have a heart monitor on me and the baby at the same time therefore, I was sent to the ER for further monitoring. After several hours I was released and told to return the next day for a consult with Internal Medicine. I was placed on beta blockers to keep my heart stable and had to go to Maternity twice a week for NST and once a week for OB check ups. That was three appointments a week. I am so THANKFUL my mother was there because I can't fathom having to take all my kids to those appointments. It was determined I had SVT but no one knew what was causing it.  

On February 7, I was at the hospital for my NST and my doctor decided to strip my membranes in hopes to get labor started. I had an induction scheduled for February 13, but we hoped this worked. My OB was the doc on call that day and she was hoping stripping my membranes would induce labor and she could deliver me. We had developed a plan for me to get an Epidural, my first after three natural, to keep the stress off my heart. We did not want to chance an SVT attack in labor.  That evening Rick and I arrived at the hospital because the stripping worked!  I  was immediately given an epidural, the first of several things to go wrong that night. I should have turned down the epidural, but the objective was to keep my body stress free. We were so wrong!!!  During placement of the Epidural, anesthesia went to deep and punctured into my spinal cavity causing cerebral spinal fluid to leak.  The epidural line was placed and I was given a Spinal because the doctors thought I would go quickly. Add that to a list of things we were all wrong about.  While the Dr. was telling us what happened and that I might suffer spinal headaches after, my hands started going numb, I got dizzy and passed out.  I woke up to my husband and OB in my face. My blood pressure had dropped causing me to pass out. The spinal got to high due to the hole in my spinal cavity and the medicine also getting in there.  After several medications to bring my bp back up I was stabilized and labor continued on.  Unfortunately, the spinal pretty much stopped all my contractions so after two hours it wore off and the contractions picked backup. I called for the epidural to be readministered now because the contractions made my heart rate jump. This was the biggest mistake.  Instead of the spinal he hooked in the epidural drip.  On the test dose everything went tingly.  Once again my hands went numb and this time I couldn't move my toes, legs, or fingers. It went to high and I was about to pass out again when they got the medication into me for my blood pressure. Rick and the Dr had to sit the bed straight up to stop the epidural from getting higher. The crash cart was brought in because I couldn't breathe well. For a few minutes it looked like I was going to be intubated and given a c-section. Honestly, I could have cared less how that baby got out. I was miserable.  FINALLY, after sitting the bed up the epidural stopped at my lower breasts and lungs and my breathing stabilized.  I thought I was going to die.  The ob gave me pitocin because I was making no progress and the contractions stopped with the mega epidural.  After SEVERAL hours, I was finally ready to push.  I pushed for an hour, which is not long for first time moms, but long for a 4th time mom.  It was extremely painful since the epidural wore off, more painful than my other three natural deliveries. Turns out Zach was face up instead of being in a posterior position (face down).  This makes things more painful and also its extremely hard to push the baby out.  Its a good thing he was my fourth, there is no way he would have made it had he been my first.  An hour later he finally made his grand entrance in to the world with a deformed head and massive brusing from hitting my pelvis, but otherwise he was perfect and we were so in love.  The next day I was suffering from the spinal headaches they warned me off and I opted for blood patching to fix the hole in my spine.  Another epidural line was administered and they took blood from my arm and injected into my spinal cavity to plug the hole. The headache was gone almost immediately.  I am glad I opted for the spinal patching, the headache was worse than a migrane.  

If I had a do over, I would have gone natural again, but we thought we were doing the right thing and trying to keep stress off my heart. Unfortunately, it ended up causing more stress than we could have imagined.  

Welcome Zachary Payton Frank

Holding him for the first time.

Weighing in at 7 lbs 5.8 oz

His bruise. It went from his forehead to the back of his head. The Pediatrician said it was one of the worst she had seen.  

MomMom holding zach for the first time.

A proud daddy and his only son.

Gabby was sooo in love.

Rick coming to see Zach after a father daughter dance.

Henley greeting Zach for the first time.

After 24 hours of no sleep, we don't look too bad! :)

This is what Henley really did while she was visiting.

Natalie is the best big sister.

Happy birthday blue cupcakes for Zachary

Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012 started with a BANG!  By bang I actually mean lots of vomiting and sick children.  In the middle of the night/early hours of the 24th Gabby and Natalie started down the dreaded Stomach Bug course puking every hour for over 6 hours.  Rick spent the middle of the night cleaning up vomit and washing the sheets and several clothes all because he wanted to keep me and my pregnant self away from the vomit.  He was hoping I wouldn't get sick.  Little did he know I would be sick on Christmas Day! :) Fortunately the stomach bug only lasted 24 hours and the girls were good to go come the evening of the 24th.  They two older girls were anticipating Santa, but Henley was not sure about all the commotion.  The next couple of years will be full of excitement as they get old enough to understand.  This is our last Christmas as a family of 5 and last with only girls!! Next Christmas we will get to add some blue to the mix with the addition of Zachary!!!   The girls were allowed to open one of the presents from MomMom and DadDad on Christmas Eve as she made them some soft fleece blankets and after the stomach bug we thought it would be fun to cuddle up with soft blankets while anticipating the arrival of Santa.

Opening their presents on Christmas eve. Henley looking to her older sisters for guidance.  All three look sweet in their matching PJs

Henley knows when to pose for the Camera.

Natalie was the first to get hers open.

Henley showing off her pretty blanket.

Sheer excitement on Gabby's face.

Santa brought Henley a bitty baby set and baby stroller (MomMom and DadDad provided the mega blocks but I didn't have a box to fit them so they got set out with the other presents!! SORRY MOM)

Gabby wanted these specific princess dresses and shoes to match. Santa couldn't help but oblige.

Natalie scored the best with her own ipad. Now before you think I spent that much money on her, think differently. We were able to get an old broken Ipad fixed for the same cost spent the other girls!! Thats bargain shopping!!

Not really sure about all the commotion

Skyping with MomMom and DadDad while opening presents. DadDad is in the background with his Santa Hat..Look closely at my ipad screen :)

Opening presents from Grandma..>BARBIES