Image Source: New York Post
We love it when our babies are chubby and cuddly — let’s admit it! On average, a baby weighing anywhere between eight to nine pounds, or three to four kilograms, is considered chubby and, well, fat (1). The chubbier, the squishier, right? But a couple from Arizona is enjoying squishy at its best after giving birth to baby Finnley, a fourteen-pound chubster and miracle baby who is now pretty much a celebrity!
Proud and ecstatic parents, Tim and Cary Patonai were delighted to welcome their son Finnley, who weighed a whopping fourteen pounds and an ounce on the fourth of October this year. Baby Finnley had arrived early via cesarean section.
Thirty-six-year-old Cary shared that everyone wanted a selfie with her son soon after his birth, as they had never witnessed this before. The doctors at the hospital had said that Finnley was around twenty-four inches long at birth. Since he arrived two weeks earlier than planned, he weighed fourteen pounds, however, had they waited for him to arrive on his due date, it could have been possible that he touched a whopping sixteen and a half pounds! In fact, the doctor in charge of Cary’s pregnancy and childbirth also admitted that he had never seen a baby with such an enormous birth weight — not in the twenty-seven years of his service as an obstetrician and gynecologist!
Image: New York Post
The general atmosphere in a delivery room after childbirth is usually filled with many emotions, particularly that of joy and gratitude. In this case, the emotions ran exceptionally high for a very different reason — it was a special birth, no doubt, with Finnley being this big, but that was not all. Cary Patonai had experienced nineteen miscarriages previously. Before the birth of Finnley, the mother had experienced two pregnancy losses. In addition to Finnley, the couple have two older sons as well. The oldest, Devlen, all of ten years old, was the most affected each time his mother lost a baby. They have another son named Everette, who is two years old.
Speaking of the older boy, the parents shared that they too were on the heavier side, although not as big as Finnley. Delven weighed close to eight pounds and two ounces at the time of birth, and Everette weighed eleven pounds and eleven ounces.
Although excited and happy that her family is now complete, Cary does not deny that her pregnancy was no easy feat. Finnley was a big baby, and Cary shared that she was highly uncomfortable towards the end of her pregnancy. She said that even something like taking a shower would take a toll on her, and she needed close to thirty minutes to recover from all that exertion. Thank goodness for the cesarean section, the mother was found saying. We agree, childbirth in itself is a traumatic experience, so we can only imagine what a struggle it would have been had the doctors not recommended a cesarean section.
Image: New York Post
Finnley’s birth weight is not the only thing that is far from ordinary — given his size; the little one has to wear clothes made for the average six or nine-month-old babies, despite being only two weeks old! The couple said they picked clothes for Finnley shortly before the delivery, but none of those clothes fit him as no one had predicted that Finnley would be such a big baby. In addition to a larger-than-average-sized wardrobe, Finnley’s appetite is quite mighty as well. In Cary’s words, it’s like feeding two babies at a time! While most newborns need around two ounces of milk per feeding, this not-so-little baby requires close to four and a half ounces of milk per feeding!
Despite all the ups and downs that came with Finnley’s birth, the parents said they could not stop staring at their adorable bundle of joy! Cary went on to say that her baby is just perfect the way he is, and with his arrival, their sweet little family is finally complete.
Finnley is not the first baby we know who had a mighty birth weight. A baby boy from Aversa in Italy weighed a whopping twenty-two pounds and eight inches when born in 1955. More recently, in 2019, Joy Buckley, a proud mama from New York City, gave birth to a cuddly baby girl who weighed fifteen pounds and five ounces!
Many factors come into play when you are carrying a baby, which can contribute to high birth weight. Some of these factors include genetics, the height and weight of both parents, overweight mothers, or those who have gestational diabetes (2). We’re glad to know that Finnley and his mother are doing well despite all the complications they faced during the pregnancy. Did your baby have a high birth weight as well? Share your experience with us in the comments below.
