Doulamuse’s Weblog

Holy moly, yes, you read that right 13 1/2 pounds of baby! Danielle Mackay gave birth last Thursday to Chelsea Rose via cesarean section, the reason of course being: “doctors were afraid” that Chelsea wouldn’t fit through Danielle’s hips. Read all about it here.

People automatically assume that Danielle had to be diabetic. Not so says the good doctor:

Neonatal specialist Dr Yoga Kandasamy said while most babies of Chelsea’s size were sick or had mothers with gestational diabetes, both mum and bub were a picture of good health.

Although Chelsea’s blood sugar and feedings are being monitored. Thus far all is well. Full story here.

So, can good old ‘hearty tucker’ grow a baby this big? Perhaps. A century ago, when most lived an agraian lifestyle and women worked just as hard as the men on the farm [not that they don't now] babies tended to be larger. Plus they were birthed at home either with a midwife, country doctor or neighbor in attendence. Times have changed. With our tendancy to birth lower weight babies in the modern era, we look at large babies almost with disgust. Something must be wrong in order to grow a baby that large. “Oh, well you must have had Gestational Diabetes.” Or perhaps mom had a horrible diet consisting of Coca~cola and twinkies. But what about the moms who had near perfect diets?

Diet can and does play a huge role in the size of our babies. All of my babes have been well over 8 pounds. No GD here. Simply a very healthy diet, low in refined carbs and junk food. No soda, no sugary laden sweets. Lots and lots of meat and vegetable protein and healthy carbs, whole grains, fruits & veggies and the occasional sweet; a healthy sweet of course.

Did Danielle have such a diet? It’s possible, but I can’t be sure. Being the armchair umm, rather desk chair critic here, by the looks of that baby, she has ample fat stores. Perhaps too much fat? Although my own babies have weighed in over 8 pounds, none of them have been ‘fat’ looking. The same is true for my friends who have birthed ‘dense’ babies. Strong babies with higher body weight but not extra fat. Chelsea looks a bit rollie pollie to me, but not immensely fatty.

Now, about large babies not fitting. True, CPD happens and I’d much more likely believe it in cases like this where the baby was indeed quite large. But the only way to correctly diagnose CPD [I've been told] is with an X-ray. Most doctors prefer to rely on the ultrasound which is infamous for it’s false diagnoses. I wonder if indeed these docs shot some film to correctly diagnose, or did they just rely on the old “baby is too big to fit” line and order the section. Who knows?

Regardless of all this idle chatter, CONGRATULATIONS to Ms Mackay and Mr Mifsud on their beautiful bundle of joy. And for their 15+ minutes of fame around the globe as well! Welcome to Earth little Chelsea, this will be great for you when you’re 16 and everyone knows you as Australia’s largest baby! Life is good.