Parents Forced to Get New Baby Clothes as Son's Weight at Birth Tips the Scales
There’s a reason mothers have a special day set aside for the sole purpose of singing their praises.
On Mother’s Day, we celebrate their love, their sacrifice, their ability to wipe away all manner of spit-up without gagging, and their willingness to discipline willful adolescents straight through early adulthood.
We also salute their capacity to endure nine months of overall discomfort, interspersed with some extremely disheartening wardrobe changes. And often, we applaud their ability to endure the actual childbirth process itself.
But if the efforts of other moms warrant admiring applause, it would seem that 33-year-old Paula Brown deserves a sustained standing ovation. She recently gave birth to a son at Blackburn Birth Center in East Lancashire, England.
Before young Theo John James Brown’s joyous debut, reports indicate that a certain Baby George from Gloucester had earned the title of Britain’s biggest infant delivered naturally.
That robust tot tipped the scales at 15 pounds, 7 ounces when he was born back in 2013.
Theo didn’t quite wrestle away this hard-won title, but he certainly did some serious scale-tipping of his own. This wee one came into the world weighing an impressive 12 pounds, 4 1/2 ounces … which, come to think of it, probably deserves an entirely different adjective than “wee.”
“We were all making guesses at what weight the baby would come in,” recalled his father Gareth Brown, speaking to news sources. “But nobody was expecting that.”
Proud Papa Brown said that birthing staff told the couple Theo was the biggest baby they’d seen in roughly five years.
“It was not pleasant,” added his wife wryly, referring to her six-hour labor.
But Paula was also quick to add that the end result has been “just fantastic.” Young Theo was initially treated at the hospital for jaundice-related complications, but was soon able to accompany his family home to nearby Great Harwood.
One minor side-wrinkle? The fact that none of the baby wear Theo’s parents had originally picked out came anywhere close to fitting him.
It’s true, after all, that Theo’s weight puts him at nearly twice the average size of a typical newborn. One nurse on the ward reportedly cancelled a dentist appointment, just so she could witness his memorable birth.
Paula and Gareth swiftly resigned themselves to parting with the wardrobe options they’d initially selected for their son. Instead, they went out and purchased adorable items styled for the typical three-to-six-month-old.
“It was strange,” noted Gareth, remembering Theo at the hospital, “most of the babies there were tiny — and Theo was huge.”
But clearly, this cutie’s notable proportions are no match for the size of his family’s enduring love and gratitude.
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