Introducing Bettino John Torres!

Bettino John Torres

Born Friday,  January 20th, 2012 at 10:32 am

8 lbs, 9 ozs

21.5 inches

As I sit here in my robe and pajamas, hair unkempt, teeth unbrushed, wondering how in the heck 2 1/2 weeks have already passed and I have still not found time to update my digital friends with this great news, I could not tell you.  What I can tell you is how our little journey to Awesome Pants #2 came about since it's good to record things like this for you and for me.

So, here is where we last left off:

39 weeks pregnant, and a little bit (okay, a LOT) over it.  See how happy I look??

I was 3 centimeters dilated and around 80% effaced for around 3 weeks.  Of course, anyone that I spoke to told me that when I finally went into labor, I just better hope I wasn't that lady on the news that just gave birth in her car on the way to the hospital.  Nice.

So, I was sure I was going to go early, and fast.  So I told mi madre to shake her skinny butt on over here a week early since we would need her here when i finally did go into labor...Early. 

So, she did, and it was good since Alessandra and Grandma Jo got some good one on one time in before she had to share her attention with a human raisin in the very near future:

They played dress up

And danced

So, we entertained each other and prepared the house and the baby things and each night before we went to bed we would all say to each other, "Tonight could be the night, you never know!" and each morning I would wake up and would still be pregnant and I would be a little bit disappointed but somewhat relieved at the same time.

Then, the Wednesday of my 39 week appointment arrived and when waiting for more news on progress, there was none.  So, Dr. West asked the same question she asked me at my 38 week appointment:  "Are you interested in an induction?"  At the same time that I said "No", Ricardo who happened to be there said "Yes".  I was pretty set on letting things happen naturally, but the more we discussed the option, the more it seemed like the right choice.  I could plan it so my doctor would be the one actually delivering him, we could be ultra-prepared at home knowing exactly when he would be born, and most importantly, I would NOT be giving birth on 35W with my very underqualified husband playing the role of doctor.  (He wouldn't have gotten that far anyway, he would've been passed out on the side of the expressway by the time the news cameras got there...)  So we chose January 20th at 6:00 am as the day and so it went.

We arrived at Abbott at 6, they started the Pitocin drip at 7, it started to hurt a little so they gave me my epidural at 8 and then I had a baby at 10:30.  Please and thank you.

Our first family of four photo

The obligatory big sister holding the little brother picture

And another...There will be lots of these, won't there?

Daddy's first time holding Bettino.  Photo taken awkwardly from my hospital bed.

Grandma Jo's first time holding Bettino.  And so it shall be written that she changed his very first diaper, all full of black tar poop and everything.

Insurance covered a two day stay in the hospital, but we felt so great that we went  home after one, and all was right in the world.

Back at home, we allowed ourselves to relax and let the initial euphoria wear off.  This paved the way for big sister suffocation intervention among other things.  To this day, we are needing to stay ever-vigilant to ensure that Alessandra doesn't kill her baby brother with love.  She likes to get very close to his face and hug and kiss him, oftentimes getting dangerously close to covering his little airways, she also likes to holler in his ears, shake his head, and place unsafe objects too near to his little head.   We are working with her all the time, and as much as I love my little girl, it is nice to send her off to daycare during the weekdays to allow for a little respite from nagging at her to "be gentle...like a feather" and feeling terrible since to her it probably appears that I am favoring the wee one over her while I protect him.

Her form of regression (as is always inevitable, I'm told) has been to misbehave in the way of being a very poor listener and also she is not so nice to her grandmother.  It is a thin line because as much as you want to put her in her place for acting this way as we normally would, we also know that this is an uber-sensitive time in her life and we don't want to further damage her little soul until all has settled in.

Bettino is healthy, happy and normal, and we are all adjusting as best we can to the lack of sleep as do all new parents.  All things considered, we are doing quite well.  It is wonderful to have my mom here to help, I'm not sure what we would have done without her.  She leaves next week and I'm pretty sure I might cry.  

Mac and Marley are arriving on Thursday and we are very excited to have the boys here.  It will be a welcome distraction for Ali to have her cousin here to go crazy with, and of course I am looking forward to having my family here all together.  More to come on that.  Until then, please enjoy these adorable photos from Bettino's very first session:

And a few more of the unprofessional variety: