14-Pound Utah Baby, Joel Brandon Jr., Possibly Biggest Baby Born In US This Year
Sara Brandon kept tradition alive when she gave birth to her 14-pound son this May.
Joel Brandon Jr. -- whose nickname is J.J. -- was born by cesarean section on May 9 at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, Utah. Possibly the largest baby born this year in America, according to the local news outlet KSL, the not-so-little guy weighed exactly 14 pounds and was 22 inches long. This made for quite the unexpected surprise for everyone witnessing his delivery.
"My last ultrasound showed that he was going to be around 11 pounds," Sara Brandon, told The Huffington Post. "So when he came out and he was 14, I think everyone in the whole room -- even the doctors -- was so surprised."
At 13 pounds, 12 ounces, Addyson Gale Cessna of Pennsylvania is the only baby born this year in the United States that weighs close to J.J.’s weight. And his mother says their family keeps “watching and waiting to see if there is a baby who is bigger” since J.J. just might be this year’s biggest newborn.
Due to J.J.’s large size, Brandon received some extra help in the delivery room from not one, but two doctors.
"Since they knew he was going to be a big baby, I had two doctors delivering him instead of just one," she explained to HuffPost. "They said that they had to use some maneuvering for shoulder dystocia that they normally only use in vaginal births -- in other words, he was so big and crammed in there that they had a hard time getting him out."
J.J. spent a week and a half in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit due to respiratory issues following his birth at 38.5 weeks. But Brandon told KSL that her son is now healthy. Brandon’s type 1 diabetes, a genetic history of big babies in her family and her husband’s height have all been cited as possible reasons for J.J. being a larger than average baby.
J.J. is already sporting size 2 diapers -- the same size his older twin sisters wear. And according to Brandon, his doctors have placed the extraordinary little one in the “150th percentile" for height and weight due to how he compares to normal charts.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.