A new mum naturally gave birth to a ‘big baby’ equivalent to the weight of a bag of potatoes – without any pain relief. These babies are also known as macrosomia. Victoria Cook, 38, welcomed her son Jack five months ago with him weighing a whopping 10lbs 3oz. Despite only having gas and air to get her through, Victoria says she felt very little pain – and really enjoyed the experience. She revealed that she also had a huge bump with Jack and looked nine months pregnant at the seven-month mark.
Victoria said: “It was just huge. 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 labor for hours in the birthing center near her home in London last September but it appears she loved every moment of it. The nurses told her how peaceful the process was – despite little Jack being one of the biggest babies of his age in the country when he was born.
Victoria said: “I know it sounds ridiculous but it almost didn’t hurt, it was quite a quick delivery. His shoulder got a bit stuck on the way out, which was painful, but on the whole it was a really positive experience. We opted for a birthing center instead of a labor ward in the hospital, 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 labor as well, so that was really nice.
Every time we had a nurse come in or anything they would say ‘wow it’s so peaceful in here.’ When Jack was born he was one of the biggest 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 birthing center. 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 center fit him.”
Victoria would highly recommend a birthing center to any soon-to-be-mums.
She said: “It’s midwife run, so it’s less medi.cal than going to a hospital and much more natural. The water birth was so great as well, it’s such a relief during labor to get into the warm water, it takes the st.ains 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 away from it!”.
Victoria’s experience was so positive, she even ended up face-timing her mum during labor.
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.”
