Medical facilities outside of urban centres are often lacking in the appropriate drugs and resources. As a result, it can be dangerous for those living in small towns and rural areas to fall sick - or reach the later terms of pregnancy. This story comes from an out-of-way community in south-western Russia; a tiny town called Dagestankiye Ogn. Whether or not the hospital in question had access to painkillers or not, the stubborn woman that gave birth to a huge baby this past week decided not to use them. She may have regretted that decision when it turned out that the baby she managed to squeeze out weighed almost 14lb!
The 42-year-old woman has some experience in child-birthing, however. This giant was her fifth child and she has delivered them all healthy as anything in her rural community. It is not known whether or not she used painkillers in any of her previous births - it may be that after four easy births she decided she didn't need the advantage of painkillers. Other women choose not to use painkillers as it represents a more natural birthing process. In the case that a woman knew her child was going to weigh 14lbs upon birth, any woman may be forgiven for choosing to take painkillers!
The exact weight of the baby was 13lbs and 14 ounces, but, in any case, this is twice the average weight of a newborn! A spokesperson for the local hospital confirmed the absurdity of such a weight upon delivery, "Of course this is overweight, this is a pathology." By this, the spokesperson meant that there was something wrong with the woman's pregnancy that caused the baby to grow so dramatically. The spokesperson added that, "According to the medical team, the baby has problems with hearing. Other problems may occur in the future."
The story attracted a lot of attention online in Russia with people commenting on the incredible size of the youngster. One online comment read, "Poor woman," while others tried to explain the cause of such an enormous baby, "Usually kids can get so heavy in cases when their mother has diabetes. Sometimes it can be the first stage of diabetes." It is unknown, at this point, whether or not the mother suffers from diabetes but one can be sure the hospital will be running tests in the days and weeks to come. It is a miracle that, for now, the woman and her baby managed to survive the birth without any medication.
In 2017, a woman in Brazil gave birth to one of the heaviest babies ever recorded in South America. This one weighed in at 12.5lbs and caused the mother to spend six days in hospital recovering afterwards. Guinness World Records lists the heaviest baby ever born as weighing a massive 22lbs! This one was born to Carmelina Fedele in Aversa, Italy, in 1955. One can certain she needed some recovering time, and probably delivered the baby without painkillers either, seeing as it was the 50s. Mothers deserve a lot of credit for all the work they do in child-rearing, but these women who give birth to massive babies deserve extra credit just for the delivery!
