New Parents Get A Special Surprise 137 Years In The Making

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New Parents Get A Special Surprise 137 Years In The Making

It's always an exciting time for a couple to find out that they're expecting a baby, but for Kelen and Will Settle, the arrival of their bundle of joy was a record-breaking moment.

The couple from South Carolina welcomed their "perfect" second child, Carter Louise Settle on June 25, 2017 and she's been getting the attention of the entire country including hundreds of some big media networks.

So what makes little miss Carter so special?

Kelen and CarterPeople

Her birth has been over 100 years in the making - 137 to be exact!

No, neither Kelen nor Will have been around that long, that's just the number of years it took for a baby girl to be born into the Settle family.

"Everybody was a little bit stunned at first!" proud mom Kelen told People.com.

The new parents threw a party back in December to reveal the gender of the baby to family and friends. Everyone expected another boy, but to their utter surprise it turned out to be a boy.

"Everybody started freaking out, especially Will's parents."

Will and Kelen at the gender reveal partyPeople.com

The couple knew that there hadn't been a girl born into the family for a while, but they didn't realize just how long it had been until Will's dad did some research following the gender reveal party.

"My father actually did some homework when we found out it was a girl," Will told WSAV. "He started to think back, "˜You know my father didn't have any sisters, my grandfather may of had some sisters...' and started to kind of move further back and found out there hasn't been one in that long."

4 Generations of Settle MenPeople

Click on the next page for photos of the family's newest special edition and how everyone around them celebrated her arrival.

Kelen told People that "everybody went crazy" at the gender reveal party so you can only imagine how they all reacted to the birth of the first girl in over 100 years.

The new parents are ecstatic about being the ones to finally break the male streak. They're describing it as "an absolute wow moment."

Will, Kelen & CarterPeople
People

Carter joins big brother Rowland who is reportedly "smitten" with her.

"He loves her," Kelen explained. "He was very adamant that he wanted a brother and thought that a 6-year-old would pop out and he'd have an instant playmate. But the first time he met her he kept saying, "˜Aw, she's so cute.'"

Rowland and Carter

She also has plenty of uncles and cousins who can't get enough of the sweet addition to the family.

"There's no question she's getting spoiled rotten now!" said Kelen.

Even Will's colleagues got in on the celebration.  They surprised the happy parents with a billboard featuring baby Carter.

"Will works for an outdoor advertising company, so when she was born they snagged one of the photos off Facebook and made this billboard," Kelen says. "It is absolutely ridiculous. It was a fun surprise."

People

As for Carter's unisex name, it wasn't chosen because they were expecting a boy. It was picked because both Kelen and WIll are a fan of the name and "wanted something strong that would be cute when she was 2 but would also work when she's in the job force."

What a wonderful surprise! Maybe Carter was the key the Settle family needed to unlock the next generation of girls.

Blair isn't a bestselling author, but she has a knack for beautiful prose. When she isn't writing for Shared, she enjoys listening to podcasts.