HETTINGER - Madison Dauwen left the Hettinger hospital $1,300 richer than when she arrived as an unborn baby.

Since then, it's been nothing but pictures and interviews for this infant, who purely by being born Monday turned over a significant milestone for the hospital, West River Health Services.

Madison is as perfect as a baby can be, with all the right number of everything and a silky head of dark blond hair to top off her diminutive 8 pounds, 12 ounces.

She's also the 13,000th baby born at Hettinger since the hospital opened its doors in 1950.

Her parents, Stephanie and Todd Dauwen, live in Lemmon, S.D., about 20 miles down the road, and are tickled pink by their baby and the fine birthing experience they had at Hettinger.

"I'm the only one (new mom) here," said Stephanie Dauwen. "The nurses are awesome."

She was happy with her physician, Vanessa Berg, who provided pre- and post-natal care and performed the Caesarean section.

Hospital administrator Jim Long said the hospital decided to recognize its 13,000th baby with a monetary gift and all the publicity it could muster because the town has a population of 1,300, the hospital itself is nearing completion of an $8 million renovation and Hettinger is still coming down from its centennial celebration.

And any baby born in western North Dakota is cause for celebration.

In fact, babies being born in Hettinger are coming faster now than in recent years.

Staff didn't expect to hit the milestone baby until December, but along came more babies than expected, and Madison Dauwen to reach the goal.

Last year, the hospital had 87 births, up about 15 from the year before.

Long said he expects that the Hettinger hospital will stay in the baby business for many years, even though most small-town hospitals no longer are, either because they don't have the proper staff or they don't deliver enough to stay in practice.

Long said some of the hospital staff got their experience when Hettinger delivered twice the number a year it does now and he's comfortable with their experience still. "That's (87) still a good number," he said.

The peak baby-birthing year for the Hettinger hospital was 300 newborns back in 1982-83.

Stephanie Dauwen said she thought the 13,000th baby milestone already had been reached.

"I thought it was over when I got here," she said.

It was a nice surprise to learn that - unless something unexpected happened in a very short time - the honor would go to her baby.

Now, after a safe delivery and good care, her daughter leaves with a nice check for her folks to invest for her future.

"We'll just save it for her school," Stephanie Dauwen said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren.) @westriv.com