A mother whose bump was so big that people thought she was having twins has given birth to a baby boy weighing 11lbs 5.5oz.
Jade Bayer, 33, gave birth to Ronny-Jay Fewtrell on April 5 at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, weighing about the same as a bowling ball. Midwives said he was the largest baby they had ever delivered and even had to double check his weight.
Jade said her son was so big he couldn’t fit into newborn baby clothes and went straight into outfits for children aged three to six months.
During her pregnancy, Jade said her baby bump was bigger than when she gave birth to twins. And she’s already had to give up breast feeding due to being unable to keep up with the demands of her baby, who is now aged 12 weeks.
Jade said: ‘We had an inkling at the very beginning Ronny was going to be big. I was big straight away, there was no hiding my pregnancy from the beginning. A lot of people were joking it was twins again because I carried bigger with Ronny than with the twins. When he was born we had to ask to double check the weight because it was 5,000 grams and we didn’t know how much that was. By the time they’d converted it even the midwives were shocked and checked it again on the chart they had.’
‘One of them said he is the biggest baby that has been on the scales. The midwives were laughing saying his umbilical cord was like a tow rope. He went completely off the growth charts where they put the estimated weight and length – I think he was about the size of a four month old baby. He didn’t fit in any of the newborn or 0-3 month baby clothes, he went straight into three to six months.’
Ronny-Jay was originally due on April 9 and Jade was booked in to be induced on April 1 because of his size.
She added: ‘The hospital was too full and they couldn’t induce me on that day so they told me to come back on the. Then nothing happened so they tried to induce me for a second time and at that point 20 women were in front of me. But then my waters broke and I was rushed to delivery so he was born four days before his due date.’
‘I was in labour all together 16 hours and he actually got stuck as you can imagine due to his size. They had to increase the hormones in the drip but I wanted a C-section because I had been in labour so long and was tired. We were within minutes of going for one when the midwife said ‘before you do that, you’ve been through a lot, would you try an epidural?’.
‘So I did that and he came about half an hour after they gave me the increased hormone, it was quite a relief. Then when they weighed him I realised what had been holding it all up. I had pethidine, gas and air and then the epidural, so I was awake and we went for a natural delivery. They estimated him at 10lbs 6oz so they knew he was going to be big but his dad weighed 10lbs 4oz and I had twins before which were also a good weight.’
Jade’s nine-year-old twins Vinny and Shilo weighed 7lbs 10z and 7lbs 6oz while Analise, 14, was born weighing 9lbs 13.5oz.
Jade added: ‘I was in that much pain towards the end of the pregnancy I kind of had to beg the consultant to be induced because I couldn’t physically move or breathe. I’ve had big babies before but I could tell Ronny was different.’
Jade, who lives with partner Scott Fewtrell, 29, a labourer, said Ronny would probably be their final child.
Full-time mum Jade added: ‘By the looks of it, they keep getting bigger and four is enough for anyone. I’ve done my fair share for the population and if they get any bigger then you are looking at a stone baby. He’s doing really well now, I haven’t been able to weigh him recently because it’s tricky getting a space in the clinics. Now people can see him though and a lot of them say he’s big and really heavy baby. But he is so chilled out, so happy, very content and I get good sleep with him. Milk formula-wise I had to put him straight onto the hungry baby formula because he was constantly hungry and wasn’t satisfied enough. I did breast feed at the beginning but I wasn’t able to produce as much as he was demanding. Then we combined and I could only breast feed for three weeks, it was just too much strain. He wanted to feed constantly so the midwives did recommend I switch entirely to formula feed because I just couldn’t produce what he needed.’
Jade said she received ‘phenomenal care’ from the moment she arrived at Worcestershire Royal Hospital to the moment she left. Scott was allowed to visit in certain hours then once Jade’s water broke he could stay by her side for the birth.
Jade said: ‘He was very shocked and taken back by the whole thing, although we expected a big baby but neither of us expected this. I was quite shocked to learn he could be one of Britain’s biggest babies but the midwife did say he was the biggest ever on her scales. He’s absolutely fine now and gets on great with his siblings, they dote on him. I can’t thank the midwives enough for their continued support and work with me and the baby through my traumatic labour.’
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