19 Pound Baby

19 Pound Baby

An Indonesian woman has given birth to an 8.7-kilogram (19.2-pound) baby boy, the heaviest newborn ever recorded in the country, a doctor said Wednesday. The baby, who is still unnamed and is 62 centimetres (24.4 inches) long, was born by caesarean section Monday at a public hospital in North Sumatra province, a gynaecologist who took part in the operation told AFP. “This heavy baby made the surgery really tough, especially the process of taking him out of his mum’s womb. His legs were so big,” Binsar Sitanggang said. The boy is in a healthy condition despite having to initially be given oxygen to overcome breathing problems, the gynaecologist said. “He’s got strong appetite, every minute, it’s almost non-stop feeding,” he said. “This baby boy is extraordinary, the way he’s crying is not like a usual baby. It’s really loud.”

She had to be rushed to hospital due to complications with the pregnancy, which had reached nine months. The baby, her fourth, was the only child not delivered by a traditional midwife. The boy’s massive size was likely the result of his mother, Ani, 41, having diabetes, Sitanggang said. When a diabetic mother’s glucose level is high during pregnancy, the baby can receive too much glucose and grow too large, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Indonesia’s previous heaviest baby, weighing in at 6.9 kilos, was born in 2007 on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, according to the Indonesian Museum of Records website. He’s a bouncing baby boy who could break a knee — a mother in Jakarta, Indonesia, delivered a 19.2-pound, 2-foot-long child on Monday via Caesarean section. The as-yet-unnamed baby’s arrival, chronicled on TODAY Thursday, was marked by a cry that sounded more like a roar and an appetite of epic proportions. The big baby, a weight record for a newborn in Indonesia, although a bit short of the world record of 23 pounds set in 1879, was likely caused by his mother having gestational diabetes. And even though mom Ani was saved the grueling task of pushing the child out herself, the surgery to bring him into the world was still touch and go.