Most everything about Taliesin White’s arrival was a surprise, including the fact that he was the first baby born on Whidbey Island in 2019.

Oak Harbor resident Amanda White said she arrived at the Naval Health Clinic at around 10:45 p.m. on Dec. 31.

“Once I got in that bed, I had no idea what time it was,” White said. “I was in so much pain … I thought it had been hours and hours.”

White and her husband’s baby boy arrived at 12:40 a.m. on Jan. 1. He weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces and was 19 inches long. White said the little boy was about two weeks early and caught her a little off guard.

In fact, the whole pregnancy caught her off guard. Her first doctor had told her she had another health problem and it was unlikely she was pregnant.

It wasn’t until a friend suggested she might be that she took a pregnancy test — by then, White was 22 weeks along.

The day she went into labor, White said thought she had food poisoning. She began feeling nauseous and suspected she was sickened by a turkey sandwich she ate earlier that day. After having more contractions, she called her doctor, who told her it probably wasn’t food poisoning. Shortly thereafter, the Whites went to the clinic.

Growing up, White said she didn’t even plan on getting married or having kids until she met her husband Alexzander, who is an aviation ordnanceman second class at the base. She moved to Oak Harbor about five years ago and they got married in August last year.

“He kind of saved my life,” White said of her husband.

Meeting him also changed her perspective on having kids. She knew when they got married she wanted to have a family with him. The arrival of Taliesin has solidified her shift in thinking, White said, though it hasn’t been easy being a first-time parent.

“It’s scary because everything is brand new to me,” she said.

Her husband’s help proved crucial, and her mother came from California to help as well. White said there was an immediate change in herself that she didn’t know could happen.

White said she’d always considered herself “selfish,” but in a moment she realized she “could never be selfish again.”

“All those cliches about the second they put them on your chest, everything changes are true,” she said.

“How dare they be right,” she said jokingly.

The first baby born at WhidbeyHealth Medical Center was Angela Flores Merino, to Veronica Flores Merino, on Jan. 7.