After keeping the news secret for nine months, former American Idol contestant, Kristy Lee Cook announced sometime near the end of April that she welcomed her first child with partner, Lee Orr.
The 34-year-old season seven Idol contestant took to Instagram on April 15 with a video message for her fans, announcing the bundle of joy.
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“Hey guys, I am currently in the hospital, and I have some news to tell you,” she began with a whisper. “I have been very sneaky these past nine months. So, I actually just had a little baby boy. Lee man over here, is a daddy.”
Cook finished off her message, whispering, “Lots of news we haven’t shared with you guys. Surprise. This is the gender reveal of our baby.”
Orr took to Instagram as well, sharing the news with a snapshot of Cook holding their child, Tillman Daniel Orr.
“For those that knew and for those that didn’t. Surprise! [Kristy Lee Cook] and I have been withholding information!” he wrote. “We welcomed our new baby boy into the world Saturday [at] 2:09pm. He weighed in at 6.6lb and is 20″ long. Beautiful and healthy as can be. Momma and baby are doing great!”
Cook has been busy showing off images of her baby boy, sharing one image in particular confessing that she never imagined venturing into “motherhood.”
“Life throws you sliders, and Gods plan is ALWAYS greater than our own. I’m so thankful God put [Lee] and I together and had a bigger plan for me and ‘US’ than I ever imagined,” she wrote. “I never liked kids growing up nor did I ever want any, I never even held my siblings kids, with all odds stacked AGAINST us, and a 1% chance of actually having a baby, God had different plans.”
Cook admits she didn’t know what to expect going into “motherhood” and was really scared.
“I had a rough pregnancy and I started out with an E.coli UTI and a Respiratory infection, plus being in my first trimester, it was hard, I struggled a lot with different emotions on how I felt actually ‘being pregnant,’ changing my whole life as I knew it and plans that I had.”
She adds that she was a “free traveling country girl,” who felt stranded and unprepared to be a mom.
“I didn’t know what to expect and I wasn’t ready for it. I spent many nights crying because of the changes that were about to happen. All I can say NOW looking back is WOW, I was NOT expecting that!! I knew God’s plan was PERFECT and I knew I just didn’t understand it and thought I wasn’t ready for it, but you know what? I am, and I was, and ‘HE’ knew what he was doing.”
The new mom goes on to share how “grateful” and “humbled” she is now having a loving partner in Lee.
“[He is] the most amazing, supportive, understanding, caring and loving person I could of ever asked for,” she wrote.
Cook, who took the seventh place spot on season 7 of Idol with winner David Cook, has been keeping busy since her season aired 10 years ago. In the time since, Cook scored her first chart single with “15 Minutes of Shame” from her second country music album, Why Wait.
She is currently the host of the Sportsman Channel’s The Most Wanted List, where Cook and her co-hosts take viewers into the most coveted hunts around the world, tackling unique challenges, animals, people, drama, weather, and terrain.
But Cook hasn’t given up on country music. In 2016, she told the Mail Tribune that with the TV show, it’s been hard to find time to devote to her singing.
“It kind of depends on when I get some songs written,” Cook said, who added she was considering writing a couple of Christian-country songs and pitching them to Christian labels.
“I’m still a country girl, but I’m a Christian country girl, and I would like to put that music out,” she said.
Photo credit: Dunlap Photography / Facebook