It didn’t take very long for Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Hospital in Detroit Lakes to welcome its first baby of 2015.
Mary Jean Haverinen was born at 11:41 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 1, to Vanessa and Dale Haverinen of Menahga.
Mary, who is the youngest of seven children, was a healthy 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and 21 inches long at birth.
Large families are nothing new to the Haverinens.
“I’m from a family of 10, and my husband is from a family of nine,” said mother Vanessa.
“I’m the oldest in my family. I grew up knowing what it’s like to take care of kids.”
She said Mary’s siblings, the oldest of whom will be 10 in February, are all excited to welcome home their new sister, whom they had not yet met in person as of Friday.
“We’ll go home tomorrow,” she added.
Though she is a stay-at-home mom, Vanessa said, “I don’t homeschool them.” The children who are old enough to do so all attend school in Menahga.
Six of Vanessa’s seven children, including Mary Jean, were delivered by Dr. Bruce Conmy at EHSM in Detroit Lakes. Everything about this pregnancy and birth has gone smoothly thus far, she said; there were no complications.
“So far, so good,” she added. “She (Mary Jean) has been a very quiet baby. But they usually are until you bring them home.”
Though her due date was officially Dec. 30, Vanessa said Mary could have been born “anywhere between Christmas and New Year’s.”
Giving birth to the official Essentia Health-St. Mary’s New Year’s baby of 2015 was pretty exciting, she added, joking that the thing she was most nervous about was “being interviewed for the newspaper.”
Vanessa said she and Mary would most likely spend a very quiet weekend at home with the family before venturing out to meet the relatives.
“We usually go to grandma’s when they’re about a week old,” she said. “But we probably won’t go anywhere else for a couple of weeks.”
Follow Detroit Lakes Newspapers reporter Vicki Gerdes on Twitter at @VickiLGerdes.
