11lbs 8oz: the weight of a tin of paint, two fully-grown chihuahuas, or a bowling ball.
It’s also the birth weight of Sarah Dines’ baby, Montague, who was born last year, shocking doctors with his healthy size.
Montague, now 11 months, was 35-year-old Sarah’s first baby, coming into the world at the average weight of three-month-old baby, despite being a newborn.
Monty went straight into toddler clothes, and now wears items for two to three year olds.
Sarah, a teacher, initially wanted a water birth in her home in Broadstone, Dorset, without pain relief, but eventually had to have a c-section, partly due to his size.
She said: ‘He was so big when he was born, he looked ridiculous. When the doctor’s took him out, they were all laughing and I didn’t know why at first.
‘One of them said he was ready for school, and the little towel they wrapped him just didn’t fit.
‘He was in the 99.9th percentile for height and 99.6th for weight.’
None of the clothes Sarah brought in for Monty fit when he was first born, with the mum laughing: ‘Even the little cap they gave him at the hospital was too small.’
Sarah added: ‘My sister had to run and buy me some nappies because none of the ones we had fit him either.
‘As he’s got older he’s gone up and up in sizes, he’s always been in bigger clothes than his age.
‘He’s a week off being one and he’s in stuff for a 2-3 year old.’
Sarah’s doctors can’t account for why Monty was born so big, and both she and her son were tested for gestational diabetes after the labour but came back negative.
‘I’m 5 foot 9, and my husband Elliott, 41, is six foot, so we were never going to have a small baby,’ said Sarah.
‘Neither of us were particularly big when we born, I think I just carry big babies.’
Sarah felt she had a large bump, but docs all predicted Monty would weigh around 8lbs.
She said: ‘All the scans were normal, so I was all set to go to have a home birth.
‘Initially, I just wanted to have a water-birth and that was going to be my own form of pain relief.
‘Monty was 10 days late, so it got to the point where the doctor was talking about a planned c-section or inducing me.’
Sarah ended up needing to go to the hospital for an emergency c-section.
Sarah said: ‘The pain got so bad that I asked for gas and air, and then eventually we had to go into hospital.
‘I didn’t want to be induced, and we had spoke about a planned c-section because he was so late, we even did all the paperwork.
‘That ended up being useful because we had to go in for the emergency c-section, we’d filled in all the forms.’
Despite her best-laid plans for a home labour going awry, Sarah is glad Monty was safely delivered and healthy. The big boy has settled in wonderfully at home, and the family are enjoying their new, bumper-sized member.
