Louise and John Kolthoff will never forget how they rang in 2009. After 16 hours of labor, including moments when Louise said she nearly threw in the towel, the couple greeted their first child just one hour after midnight.
Weighing in at 7 pounds 11 ounces at St. Luke's hospital, Solei Martina Kolthoff was the first Duluth baby born in the new year -- at 1:12 a.m. Jan. 1.
"It's just been great to hold her and meet her," Louise said as she looked down at her newborn. "I was anxious to meet the person who'd been rumbling around in my belly."
So anxious, in fact -- Solei's due date was Dec. 26 -- that Louise recently had been changing the words to the Beatles song "Dear Prudence" to include Solei's name.
"I'd sing 'dear Solei, won't you come out to play,'" she said.
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The couple chose the name Solei because it means 'sun,' and because they liked it. They chose the middle name in honor of John's grandmother, Martina, who died on New Year's Day 16 years ago.
"We had a couple different grandmothers' names rolling around but when [Solei] was born on New Year's it just worked out good to name her after Martina," John said. "She is just the
perfect gift for the new year."
Her journey into the world was not as perfect. Louise's labor was dramatic and long, and would have resulted in a C-section if Solei had decided to hold out much longer.
"When they told me that, I just pushed with all my might and they finally told me she was coming," Louise said. "It was very painful but a great feeling knowing that she was really here; that she was ours."
Despite the conditions of the labor, Louise was able to remain coherent enough to wish her husband a happy new year.
"She was right in the middle of this really intense contraction... but when the clock struck midnight you could hear [Louise] say, kind of in a weak voice, 'Happy New Year,'" John said. "All the nurses got a kick out of that."
The proud couple plans to take their daughter back to their Duluth home Saturday, where they can begin what John referred to as their "crash course" in parenting.
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Solei was one of 997 babies born at St. Luke's over the past year. The first baby born in 2009 at St. Mary's Medical Center arrived at 11:34 a.m. Thursday. That little girl was one of 1,612 babies born at SMDC, a record year for births at the hospital.
"That's the most births we've had in 20 years," said Kim Kaiser, an SMDC spokeswoman. "It may be the most we've ever had, but I can't say that for certain because the records only go back 20 years."
