A FIRST-time mum has told of her shock after her baby arrived two weeks early – weighing nearly 11lbs.
Baby Lily-Grace was the biggest baby born at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital in October, and the only one who weighed more than 10lbs.
To her mum Jessica Drake’s surprise, and without any warning during her pregnancy, Lily-Grace weighed in at 10lbs 10oz.
Jessica delivered her without any pain relief after planning a natural water birth.
She began her labour in the Fatima Allam Birth Centre but was transferred to the main labour ward for an assisted birth when Lily-Grace became stuck.
Jessica, 23, from Sutton, Hull, said: “I didn’t know I was having a big baby, she was two weeks early too. She was due on 17th and born on 5th.
“It was a massive shock, I only took one thing in the hospital bag that managed to fit her the rest were too small.
“I had wanted to have a water birth so I was in the birth centre for the first half of my labour until I was transferred to the labour ward because I wasn’t getting any further along from pushing.
“At this point I couldn’t have any pain relief because I was too far along and on the labour ward I had to have an assisted birth with ventouse delivery.”
The mum-of-one said she and her partner Benjamin had no idea how big their daughter was until she was weighed.
She said: “It wasn’t until they put her on the scales that we fully realised her weight.
“While the doctor was helping deliver her, he had commented on the fact that he thought she was going to be big as her shoulders were stuck.
“It was painful at the time but I soon forgot about it.
“The babies in my family have always been average size, and I was measuring bigger but not big enough to warrant having growth scans, so they didn’t expect her to be as big as she was, especially with her being two weeks early as well.”
Lily-Grace is now six weeks old, and is about to go into 3-6 month clothing because the 0-3 month items are getting too small for her.
She enjoys “guzzling” her milk and takes about 7oz at once.
Jessica said she looks bigger than the three-month old babies at weigh in clinic.
It was painful at the time but I soon forgot about it.
Jessica Drake
Lily-Grace was one of 417 babies born under the Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in October 2019, with 213 girls and 204 boys, and eight sets of twins.
Of these births, 60 per cent were normal births, ten per cent were assisted, 13 per cent were elective caesareans and 17 per cent were emergency caesareans.
In October, 13 babies were born in water, ten babies were born at home and only one baby – Lily-Grace – weighed more than 10lbs.
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