Woman gives birth to New Zealand’s biggest baby
A Lower Hutt mother has given birth to one of the region's biggest ever babies, a boy weighing in at a massive 16 pounds 4 ounces (or 7.39kg), about twice the average weight of a newborn baby.
The boy was so big his mother had trouble bending over.
That meant it took three hours for doctors at Wellington Hospital to administer an epidural before he was finally born by caesarean section on Monday.
The parents, who did not want to be named, said he was happy and healthy, and measured 57cm long.
"People are calling him the next Jonah Lomu, but we think he'll be a concert pianist," the father said.
"He has a good set of lungs."
During the final two months of the pregnancy doctors had been predicting he would weigh close to 14 pounds.
"We are not that tall ourselves, so we are not sure where his size has come from - at the moment we are thinking he's probably just a big baby."
It is the mother's second boy, her first was also a big lad, weighing 11.8 pounds, or 5.4 kg.
The new baby will bypass the regular newborn nappies, which generally fit children until they are 5kg. He can go straight to the third size up called crawler, as they fit children weighing between 6kg and 11kg.
According to Ministry of Health growth charts the boy is more than double the average weight of a newborn boy and weighs about the same as a 20-week-old baby.
The child's length put him at the 99.6th percentile of newborn boys.
The child's length and weight would soon see him in clothes for six-month-old babies, which fit children between 6 and 8kg.
Capital & Coast DHB said 3330 babies were born during the 2016 calendar year in its area, with an average birth weight of around 3.33 kilograms or 7.34 pounds.
Birth plans are developed with mothers ahead of delivery, and are individually-based.
In some cases – for example, if the baby is too large to move through the birth canal – a caesarean section will be suggested as the best option for the birth.
Post-birth care for particularly large babies often involves maintaining their blood sugar and regular feeding. If the baby requires additional care, this can be provided in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
In the Guinness Book of Records the heaviest baby was recorded at 22 pounds or a little over 10kg, and was born to giantess Anna Bates in 1879.
In 2016, Australian woman Natasha Corrigan made international headlines after giving birth to a 13-pound, 4-ounce (6 kg) baby - or a "fat little man," as she called him.
Brian Liddle Jr was one of the biggest babies ever born in Australia, and was twice the average birthweight.
Written by Brad Flahive. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.