Big Baby: Florida Mom’s Pregnancy Went Unnoticed Until 35th Week, When She Gave Birth To 14.1-Pound Baby Boy
On Jan. 29, 2015, a Florida woman gave birth to a 14.1-pound baby — one of the heaviest newborns ever to be born in the United States. What’s most phenomenal about this pregnancy is not the child’s mass, but rather the fact that the Tampa mother did not even realize she was pregnant until her 35th week.
Maxxandra Ford is not naive when it comes to pregnancy. Prior to the birth of her 14.1 pound son Avery, the 26-year-old already had two children and worked as a nurse. Still, she told WFLA that she experienced no nausea or noticeable weight gain, and was unaware of her pregnancy until a few short weeks of her due date.
Cryptic pregnancies, or pregnancies where the mother isn’t aware of her condition until she is nearly full-term, may be unimaginable for the majority of the population, but they occur quite often. The Pregnancy Corner reports that for about every one in 475 pregnancies, a woman doesn't realize she's expecting until the 20th week. A startling one in every 7,225 women are not aware of their pregnancy until they go into labor.
When Ford finally realized she was pregnant, she discovered she was carrying twins. However, after 18 hours of labor the new mom was surprised to learn she wasn’t carrying two average-sized infants, but rather one extremely large baby boy.
"I was cussing up a storm," Ford told WFLA. "When I felt his head come out, I knew he was bigger than 10 pounds."
The Huffington Post reported that baby Avery’s size means that he may have procured some health complications due to the stress of his natural childbirth. These include trouble breathing, hypoglycemia, or trouble feeding. However, according to the hospital staff, both baby and mother are doing well.
FOX 13 News