Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy Welcomes Baby Boy

Former U.S. Rep Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island has welcomed a healthy baby boy with wife Amy Petigout.

Owen Patrick Kennedy was born on Sunday April 15 at 5:30pm at 6 pounds, 15 ounces. Excited to share the good news it was Kennedy’s brother Edward Kennedy Jr. who announced the birth in an email sent to the press.

In the email Edward says that Owen only “stopped crying only when he was in his big sister’s arms.”

Kennedy’s marriage and now the birth of his baby boy are major turning points for the once troubled politician. In May 2006 Kennedy had crashed his car into a road barrier on Capitol Hill, the product of a drug-induced prescription addiction that placed Kennedy in rehab for the first of two times.

Patrick is the son of well respected late Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Since his fathers death and leaving Congress Patrick Kennedy has been campaigning to boost brain research. The late Edward Kennedy passed away from brain cancer in 2009. In May 2011 the One Mind for Research campaign was launched, a 10-year initiative that bridges researchers, policymakers, and philanthropists in an effort to fight brain disorders ranging from Alzheimer’s to autism to post-traumatic stress disorder. Married in July to his middle school teacher wife from Brigantine, N.J. the couple now have two children, daughter Harper was born to Amy during her first marriage.

With his demons seemingly behind him we’re glad to see Patrick Kennedy taking control of his life and now raising a family with his wife.