A mum was stunned after giving birth to a baby girl that weighed a whopping 11lbs 5oz – the same as a mid-weight bowling ball.
Helen Sellers, 34, was warned when she was pregnant that her baby looked like she was going to be quite big, but the new mum was still in for a shock.
They took bets in the family about how big the baby would be, and Helen’s cousin guessed 11lbs which she thought was ‘cheeky’.
But then, when baby Celia finally arrived, doctors and midwives were astounded as she weighed in at a staggering 11lbs 5oz.
Helen, from Leeds, Yorkshire, and her husband, Carl, have one other child – Roman, who wasn’t a small baby either as he was born weighing 9lbs.
She said: “Carl is 6ft7 now, but he wasn’t a big baby, so we’re not sure why Celia was so big.
“While I was pregnant, my consultant said that the baby was going to be big, but not as big as Roman.
“I never expected her to be that weight. We played guess the weight with my family, and my cousin put 11lbs and I thought that was so cheeky, but he was right!”
Celia had to go straight into 0-3 clothes when she was born, as none of the newborn clothes fit her.
Helen said: “I had bought a couple of babygrows that were up to one month, and I didn’t even bother getting them out the packet – I knew they wouldn’t fit her.
“I had bought some 0-3 month stuff, and she’s already in 3-6 month clothes now.”
Helen revealed that the midwives had hilarious reactions to Celia’s size.
She said: “I had to have a c section, and it took them ages to get her out. I initially wanted to try natural delivery, but I’m glad I didn’t now because I’m not sure she would have come out.
“The midwives were laughing a bit and saying she was really big. She was the talk of the ward, they all wanted to come and look at her because she was so big.
“My midwife had worked for 16 years and she said Celia was the second biggest baby she’d ever seen.”
During the pregnancy, Helen had a big bump.
She said: “My bump was huge, I always had people asking me if I was having twins.
“There was one lady at work who asked me a few times if I was sure it wasn’t twins!
“The doctors tested me for gestational diabetes but they were negative.”