Owen Rodger Pickett: The Continuing Story

It began on a Wednesday much like any other... Katalyn had a appointment with the doctor first thing in the morning, and we went together. She had been measuring small for the last 2 months or so, and that was the same on this day. Her doctors had been concerned about it before. One had ordered an extra ultrasound right before Christmas, and another had us come in to monitor the baby's heart rate and get another ultrasound just a few weeks ago. Though none us these tests had shown any cause for concern, the doctor we saw on Wednesday was still worried that Katalyn was measuring small, and told us that since we were at 39 weeks he thought the best course of action would just be to go to the hospital and get induced. It was at that moment that the full weight of having a baby struck me, and I began to have a mild panic attack as we drove home to pack a hospital bag. Katalyn was sweet and calming as always and helped me not to hyperventilate. When we got home we packed our bags (we googled what to bring), I gave Katalyn a blessing, and we headed out for the hospital.


We waited in this room for a while until they admitted us to the real one. We decided to take advantage of the time by taking some final tummy shots before it disappeared. Isn't she beautiful?


So we got into our room and started on pitocin around 11:00 am. Six hours later, Katalyn had only changed by 2 centimeters, and both of us were getting set to be in there for a long time. That was not a very appealing idea since we had only brought 3 movies and we had finished 2 of them. Around 7 pm the nurse came in to check her again, and somehow she was fully dilated. We started pushing a little while later, and at 8:19 pm, this little guy came out. 7 pounds 4 ounces and 20 inches long.

This was Katalyn seriously 1 minute after he was born. I think the caption to this picture should be something like "Epidurals are the best!"



After checking to make sure that he was healthy, they let little Owen (who was at the time nameless) hang out with us in the room for about an hour. He and Katalyn did some very tender bonding. Then it was time for me to take him down to the nursery. There, the nurse gave him his very first bath. He wasn't too thrilled about that.


But afterward, he was clean and happy and he had a sweet hair-do.


The next day, we had quite a few visitors from Katalyn's side of the family. This is Katalyn's mom along with most of her grandchildren.


By the second morning, we were ready to get our little son out of the hospital and take him home. Here he is right before we strapped him in his car seat. The hat was a gift from Becca. Though his head needs to grow a bit before it really fits, it still looked pretty darn stylish on him.


Here is Katalyn dressed and ready to go home. I feel like the caption on this one should be something like, "Wait, who just had a baby?"


Here we are just hanging out in the nursery after getting him home. I think that my favorite part of this picture is his skeptical look. To me it conveys something to the effect of, "So, you really think you can do this, eh?" Or perhaps, "Who the heck are you and why do you smile at me so much?"


Katalyn's mom has come to stay with us for a while to help us get adjusted. It has been wonderful having her here. Owen just loves snuggling with his grandma.


This picture was taken earlier today, right after our first attempt at giving him a bath. Again he didn't love it too much, but he was so clean and cute right afterward that it was worth it. Unfortunately that only lasted about 15 seconds at which point he spit up all over himself and his little towel. In the end, it turned out okay and we got another priceless facial expression on camera. Isn't he cute with those little ears?


Here's me combing his hair after the bath. We played around with a few different looks. One of my favorites was the missionary part.


I decided that it makes him look a little more mature than I am comfortable with, and we went back to the faux-hawk.

Well that's our story and all of the cute pictures that we have so far. I think that being parents has been a little more difficult than we had pictured, but we love it and him and each other more than ever.