def read_parallel_batches(response):
    """
    Given a `response` from dynamoDB's get_item (after translating from dyJSON, 
    that is, a dict where the important information, the content of a table's item, 
    is inside the key 'Item'), return the number of parallel batches in which to 
    split the requests. This is 1 by default, or something else if specified in the 
    dynamoDB item.
    """
    
    parallel_key = 'parallel_batches'
    config = response['Item']
    
    if parallel_key not in config.keys() or config[parallel_key] == None or config[parallel_key] <= 1:
        return 1
    
    else:
        return config[parallel_key]