Hailey Whitters Welcomes Baby No. 1: 'The Boy Is Already So Well-Loved'

Hailey Whitters has welcomed Baby No. 1!

The Corn Queen country star and her husband, Jake Gear, announced on Tuesday (December 9) that son Rye Whitters Gear was born on December 4. Whitters said, “and just like that everything is different,” she wrote in her caption on Instagram. Rye Whitters Gear arrived “on a cold moon supermoon with a true knot, we have no doubt Uncle D held you close in his heavenly arms before handing you off to us on the mortal side. The cliche really is true - we don’t know what we ever did without you here. We can’t wait to see who you become. Thank you to all our friends and family who’ve checked in on us these last few weeks… the boy is already so well-loved. Welcome to the world, our sweet son.”

Whitters, 36, said her son is “our greatest production yet,” when she announced over the summer that she was expecting her first child in November. Gear proposed to the “Everything She Ain’t” artist in July 2020, and the pair waited to have their wedding until October 2022 because of the pandemic. Whitters told PEOPLE at that time that “my family is gonna want to get loud and drunk and sweaty and dance.” Gear said it the “best day of my life.” 

Whitters is one of several country artists to welcome a baby into the family in 2025. Others include Dan + Shay’s Shay Mooney, Elle King, HARDY, Lauren Alaina, Lady A’s Hillary Scott, Lady A’s Charles Kelley and more See the growing list of pregnancy announcements here.