A new mum naturally gave birth to a ‘ʙɪɢ baby’ equivalent to the weight of a bag of potatoes – without any ᴘᴀɪɴ ʀᴇʟɪᴇғ. These babies are also known as Mᴀᴄʀᴏsᴏᴍɪᴀ.
Victoria Cook, 38, welcomed her son Jack five months ago with him weighing a whopping 10lbs 3oz. Despite only having ɢᴀs and air to get her through, Victoria says she felt very little ᴘᴀɪɴ – and really enjoyed the experience. She revealed that she also had a ʜᴜɢᴇ ʙᴜᴍᴘ with Jack and looked nine months ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴛ at the seven-month mark. Victoria said: “It was just ʜᴜɢᴇ. People say with your second you do look bigger, but lots of people were asking me if I was having twins. I suppose I was carrying the equivalent of that, roughly. It got to the point where even walking became quite hard. Trying to look after a one-year-old in that state is really difficult.” She was in ʟᴀʙᴏᴜʀ for hours in the ʙɪʀᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴄᴇɴᴛʀᴇ near her home in London last September but it appears she loved every moment of it. The ɴᴜʀsᴇs told her how peaceful the process was – despite little Jack being one of the ʙɪɢɢᴇsᴛ babies of his age in the country when he was born.
Victoria said: “I know it sounds ridiculous but it almost ᴅɪᴅɴ’ᴛ ʜᴜʀᴛ, it was quite a quick delivery. His shoulder got a bit stuck on the way out, which was ᴘᴀɪɴful, but on the whole it was a really positive experience. We opted for a ʙɪʀᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴄᴇɴᴛʀᴇ instead of a ʟᴀʙᴏᴜʀ ward in the ʜᴏsᴘɪᴛᴀʟ, and we were lucky enough to have another water birth. It sounds a bit hippie, but we had nature sounds playing in the background during ʟᴀʙᴏᴜʀ as well, so that was really nice. Every time we had a ɴᴜʀsᴇ come in or anything they would say ‘wow it’s so peaceful in here.’ When Jack was born he was one of the ʙɪɢɢᴇsᴛ of his age in the country, he was in the 98th centile for weight. Because Jack was my second, I was a bit more prepared going to the ʙɪʀᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴄᴇɴᴛʀᴇ. I had some 0-3 month clothes for him to wear because he wouldn’t fit into newborn stuff. One issue we had though, was with nappies because none of the newborn sized ones at the centre fit him.”
Victoria would highly recommend a ʙɪʀᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴄᴇɴᴛʀᴇ to any soon-to-be-mums. She said: “It’s ᴍɪᴅᴡɪғᴇ run, so it’s less ᴍᴇᴅɪᴄᴀʟ than going to a ʜᴏsᴘɪᴛᴀʟ and much more natural. The water birth was so great as well, it’s such a relief during ʟᴀʙᴏᴜʀ to get into the warm water, it takes the sᴛʀᴀɪɴ off your back as well. We had a lovely corner room as well, so there was lots of sunlight flooding in. Giving birth can be really daunting, and I think we don’t talk about a lot of the details of it enough. “So many people have ʜᴏʀʀᴏʀ stories, and a ᴛʀᴀᴜᴍᴀᴛɪᴄ birth experience, so I want people to know it’s possible to give birth to a 10lb baby and walk ᴀᴡᴀʏ from it!” . Victoria’s experience was so positive, she even ended up face-timing her mum during labour. She said: “I don’t really know what I was thinking, looking back, but at the time it seemed like a great idea. I was doing little video tours of the room and I spoke to my brother’s wife, Liana, because she was only ten weeks behind me. So I just showed her what was going on.”
Today, Jack wears the same size nappies as his one-year-old sister Emilie, and is powering through her hand-me-downs. She added: ” Giving birth can be really daunting, and I think we don’t talk about a lot of the details of it enough.”
