CEDAR CITY — It appears the number two will be this newborn girl’s lucky number. Starting off both a new decade and a new year, Ridley McGuire is Baby New Year 2020 at Cedar City Hospital, born Jan. 2 at 12:12 p.m.
According to a news release sent out Thursday evening, Ridley is the second child of parents Whitni and C.J. McGuire of Cedar City, joining 18-month-old big brother Daxton. Ridley weighed 7 pounds and 15 ounces at birth and was 19 inches long.
“Both mom and baby are doing great,” the release stated.
Whitni McGuire, who works as a nurse at the Medical/Surgical Department at Cedar City Hospital, says her baby was in no hurry to be born.
“My dad jokes that this baby’s held us hostage since Dec. 23,” Whitni McGuire said with a laugh, noting that Ridley’s due date was actually Jan. 3. But since she had given birth to her first child, Daxton, a week early from his due date, she was hoping that would be the case again the second time around.
“I was dilated to a 4 for this last week with strong but not regular contractions with Ridley,” Whitni McGuire recalled. “We tried everything we could to get labor started, including the old wives’ tales of eating pineapple and driving over bumpy roads.”
Still, Ridley held out.
“She was going to come when she was going to come, and nothing was going to change that. She is the boss already,” Father C.J. McGuire said.
The McGuires live just a few minutes away from the hospital. So when contractions started to get stronger, Whitni McGuire said she drove herself to the hospital at around 5 a.m. Thursday morning so C.J. McGuire could stay home with their son.
“But I was dilated to a 7, so I got my epidural, and told C.J. he’d better get here quick,” Whitni McGuire said.
Several hours later, Ridley timed her entry into the world perfectly, being born precisely at 12:12 p.m.
The old wives’ tales about pineapple and bumpy roads may not have worked, but the one about heartburn certainly was on the mark, Whitni McGuire added.
“I was told, ‘If you have heartburn, you’ll have a baby with a lot of hair on its head,’ and I can tell you I had a whole lot of heartburn during this pregnancy,” Whitni McGuire said with a smile as she looked at Ridley’s full head of blonde hair. “So clearly, that one’s correct.”
Whitni McGuire also commended the Women and Newborn department at Cedar City Hospital for their help throughout the entire experience.
“I work here at the hospital, but it’s so wonderful to see just how meaningful the work we do and care we provide is when you’re the one actually receiving it,” she said. “It made all the difference in the world to me how dedicated and wonderful everyone was here. I wouldn’t have gotten through it without them. My nurse Jessica Archuleta had her shift end during my labor, but she clocked back in so she could stay with me and help finish the delivery.”
It marked the second straight year that Cedar City Hospital’s New Year’s baby arrived on the second day of the new year. Last year’s baby, Jesus Orozco, arrived at 6:38 a.m. on Jan. 2, 2019.
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Ridley McGuire, Cedar City's New Year Baby for 2020, is pictured on bed with her mother Whitni McGuire with hospital staff standing behind bed, L-R: Michelle Barnett, Health Unit Coordinator; Jacie Lewis, RN; McKell Cummings, RN; Alyson Wood, RN; Carolyn Shaw, RN; and Jessica Archuleta, RN, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 2, 2020. | Photo courtesy of Cedar City Hospital, St. George News / Cedar City News Ridley McGuire, Cedar City's New Year Baby for 2020, is pictured with her mother Whitni McGuire and Dr. Travis Bilanzich, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 2, 2020. | Photo courtesy of Cedar City Hospital, St. George News / Cedar City News Ridley McGuire, Cedar City's New Year Baby for 2020, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 2, 2020. | Photo courtesy of Cedar City Hospital, St. George News / Cedar City News Ridley McGuire, Cedar City's New Year Baby for 2020, is pictured with parents Whitni and C.J. McGuire, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 2, 2020. | Photo courtesy of Cedar City Hospital, St. George News / Cedar City News Ridley McGuire, Cedar City's New Year Baby for 2020, is pictured with parents Whitni and C.J. McGuire and Ridley's older brother Daxton, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 2, 2020. | Photo courtesy of Cedar City Hospital, St. George News / Cedar City News Ridley McGuire, Cedar City's New Year Baby for 2020, is pictured with her mother Whitni McGuire, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 2, 2020. | Photo courtesy of Cedar City Hospital, St. George News / Cedar City News
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