On Saturday, September 16, 2006 at 11:27 am, Ralph Walter Gianino V was born! We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am for a planned induction. The doctor broke my water around 9:30 am and I received an epidural around 10:30 am. At 10:50 am, our little guy's heart rate dropped and the staff realized that he was ready and needed to be delivered quickly. Within what seemed like the blink of an eye, the staff assembled, I was pushing, Ralph was grabbing the camera and our baby was born! He weighed in at 8 pounds, 13 ounces and was 21.5 inches long.
Baby Ralphy is healthy and handsome with a wild head of hair. He has been sleeping away most of the days and parts of the nights. He seems pretty comfortable in the arms of his big sister, who wants to hold him all of the time!
Elli has been great - she is patient and gentle with her little brother (just wait until he is big enough to "wrestle"). She is the best big sister ever! She says she will share all of her toys with Baby Ralphy when he gets bigger...all of them except her horses!
We are blessed to have our two perfect kiddos! It has been a great first week of Ralphy's life. We know that things will be hectic around here, but we are just glad we have so much to be thankful for! 
