Nine.com.auA couple in Australia got the shock of their lives when they welcomed their 13lbs (5.9kg) newborn this week.
Emma and Daniel Millar, from Mount Warrigal, New South Wales, were prepared for the possibility that their baby might be on the larger side, but didn’t expect to welcome a ‘mini sumo wrestler’ into the world.
The healthy baby, called Remi, was delivered at Wollongong Hospital on Monday (October 7), at 38 weeks and two days, via an emergency C-section. Her mum, 27-year-old Emma, said her size was a surprise to the couple.
You can watch the moment Remi was weighed below:
The happy family had expected the new addition to be slightly on the heavier side as their two-year-old daughter Willow weighed in a little over 12lbs – although they hadn’t imagined anything bigger than that.
Emma told The Sydney Morning Herald:
She’s like a mini sumo wrestler. I did expect to have a larger baby as I had gestational diabetes but not this big. At 35 weeks an ultrasound revealed she was about 4kg but we didn’t think she’d grow that much more.
Daniel added: ‘Willow was a big girl too, but she’s stick thin now so it evens itself out’. The couple also have a four-year-old son Ace, who weighed a sizeable 8.4lbs at birth.
Nine.com.auEmma first had an emergency caesarian with her oldest child, Ace, and elected to have them ever since because it’s the safest option for herself and her babies.
However, her latest pregnancy resulted in an emergency c-section once more because her waters broke early. ‘I don’t think I could have handled a natural birth with her,’ the mum-of-three added.
According to Daniel, Remi is ‘definitely making an impression’, with the dad describing how there’s always a crowd of people – ‘midwives, other new parents and visitors’ – around the newborn whenever he walks around with her.
Midwives at the hospital reportedly couldn’t remember a newborn tipping the scales at 5.88kg before – which isn’t a surprise, considering only 1.2% of Australian babies weigh more than 4.5kg, according to the most recent NSW Mothers and Babies Report.
Nine.com.auEmma is currently recovering from her C-section and is not allowed to pick up anything bigger than her baby, with the mum adding: ‘She’s about the limit I’ve been told’.
After a few days in hospital, the couple were packing up to take Remi home on Thursday (October 10) – although many of the clothes they’d bought for their newborn have since been rendered useless.
‘We only had one outfit that actually fitted her on Monday,’ her mother explained.
Looks like they’d better get shopping! Congratulations to the happy couple.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).