Welcome Diego Nicolás Acosta

So I was going to apologize for not posting since April 2010 when I noticed that a little friend of mine has been posting in my place. If you read the last few blog posts, you will see that Pablo has been sneaking online to make a few of them. Since he has already taken over, I will let him continue to post on his own. I may drop in and post on his blog from time to time, but this will be one of my last posts. Pablo, this blog is all yours (as the blog name suggests).

The past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. Diego was a scheduled C-section. Despite knowning his birthday (June 1) we were still struggling with names through 10:47 AM June 2. We picked a name and turned in the form with 13 minutes to spare before he officially became Baby Verorinca-Martinez Acosta. They threatened us with having to deal with the government bureacracy to get that changed. It turns out we are procrastinators and work well under pressue. Who knew (besides all of our friends)?

We found out that the "scheduled" part of the C-section depends on the doctor's schedule, not ours. Dr. Hasty had a tough surgery before ours that ran late. We were delayed a little over an hour. That was pretty nerve-wracking for V. I tried to distract her by talking about names and being silly, but it only worked a little bit.

The surgery went off without a hitch. No mishaps with the surgeons (unlike last time) and the baby popped right out (also unlike last time). We didn't have a doula this time so the anaesthesiologist was key comforting/distracting V while I went with the baby (at V's insistence). It was all a bit easier this time around knowing what to expect and knowing from the start that it would be a C-section. Presumably it will be even easier next time around if there is a next time, but don't ask V or me about that right now. The one thing that doesn't seem to be any easier this time around is V's recovery from the C-section. It doesn't seem any worse either. It's just tough.

Logistically, Lito and Lita were super stars. Pablo spent the first two nights at their house and they took him to school the first two mornings. After a day in the hospital with V and Diego, I would pick Pablo up at school to visit baby brother (FYI: Pablo wanted to name his new brother Baby Brother Acosta, but V vetoed). We had a few hours for all four of us to hang out each night and then Pablo would leave with Lito and Lita to spend the night. The third night, V was feeling brave. She sent me home with Pablo so that we could sleep at our house. The plan worked well since the nurses were awesome and V was feeling a bit better by then. It really helped that Diego was a good boy that night for Mommy. Pablo got to sleep at home (he had been asking about that) and I got a full night's sleep in preparation for the lack of sleep to come.

Saturday morning, it was time for Diego and Mommy to come home. Lita stepped up again and took Pablo to music class and to the park/library while I went to the hospital to pick up the rest of the family. The ride home was uneventful and we were settled in when Pablo and Lita arrived.

Throughout the whole process, Pablo has been very excited about meeting and playing with baby brother. We have been reading him some books so that he knows what to expect, but he was still surprised at how little baby brother was and how few things baby brother could do. He loves holding baby brother and giving him pat-pats. He is a good helper in bringing things to Mommy or me as needed (ex. pacifier). He watches over baby brother when he is sleeping (sometimes). He can't wait for baby brother to be able to play with him.

All in all, it has been the expected emotional jumble of anticipation, excitement, incredulity, disbelief, and "what did we get ourselves into-ness". I wouldn't trade it for the world.

All the photos are here.

Enjoy the photos and the videos. Enjoy Pablo's future posts.

Alfonso (aka Pablo's Daddy aka Diego's Daddy)

PS The biggest mishap so far was losing less than a quarter ounce of some milk that V had pumped (definitely my fault). At the time, V and I were sleep-deprived and very emotional and it seemed like a huge deal. In retrospect, it was a trickle of gold, I mean milk, that was washed down the drain. You know what they say... don't cry over spilt milk... unless it makes you feel better.

PPS I updated the photo links on the previous blogs so that they will work now. If you had trouble in the past, you should be able to see them now.

PPPS One of the things Pablo is very interested in is how we change Diego's diapers. He knows that babies need to wear diapers. Consequently, since he is not a baby, he has concluded that he doesn't want to wear diapers any more. We told him that he needs to learn how to use the potty first. So in addition to the new born, we are starting the potty training with Pablo now (at Pablo's insistence which makes it much easier). I think his day care will help out too.