On average, a newborn baby weights about 7.5 pounds. On the small side of normal, a newborn could way as little as 5.5 pounds, and on the larger side of normal, a baby could weigh up to 10 pounds.
Most women hope that they don’t have a 10 pound baby. Pregnancy and childbirth is difficult and painful enough without carrying around or pushing out any extra pounds.
Some women have extremely large babies, even bigger than 10 pounds. One 21-year-old woman in the UK ended up giving birth to a 13 pound baby. She had no idea her baby was so big until she was born.
Amber Cumberland’s doctors told her that she might be having twins since her baby bump was so extremely big. There was no evidence that she was having twins otherwise, but doctors thought the second baby might be hiding behind the first baby.
Wrong. There was no second baby.
Cumberland was very uncomfortable with such a large baby bump. She told The Sun, “The bump was so big I got lots of stretch marks and my skin was so weak from being stretched out that they would bleed if I stood up too quickly.” She added, “I was so desperate to get her out I tried everything – I ate half a kilogram of raw pineapple, used essential oils and bath salts, even acupressure – anything I read online that might help.”
Almost two weeks after her due date, Cumberland was induced, and she ended up having an emergency c-section because the baby was so big. She explained, “During the C-section it took two people to lift her out and one to hold everything back to get her out.”
The baby’s dad, Scott Joy, was at the hospital when his daughter was born. Cumberland said, “When she came out Scott’s face was white and all the surgeons were looking at each other in shock and laughing – they brought her to me and said ‘congratulations you’ve had a toddler’.”
Cumberland and Joy named their toddler-size baby Emilia. They were definitely not expecting her to be such a big baby. They had packed clothes for Emilia, but they were too small, and the nurses had to go to pediatrics to get larger diapers.
A week after giving birth, Cumberland is still recovering. She said, “I’ve still got a completely numb bit of skin around my belly button where the nerves have just given up. Because of the damage to my stomach muscles the stitches have no support and I have to be really careful. I can’t pick Emilia up or breastfeed her because she’s so heavy and there’s no protection for my organs, but I’m slowly getting better. I’m still as uncomfortable as when I was pregnant but I do feel a lot lighter and have no more trapped nerves which I’m very grateful for. We’re both so overjoyed with our gorgeous little girl.”
If you have children, how much did they weigh when they were born?