Those last couple of months of pregnancy can make us all feel like we're carrying a monumental-size fetus, but typically we don't deliver the world's largest baby girl. That title now goes to a woman in India who recently delivered a 15-pound baby girl. You read that right — 15 pounds.
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Nandini, 19, and her husband welcomed their not-so-little girl (who still is not named) into the world via C-section. Nandini, who is completely healthy, was unaware throughout her pregnancy that she was carrying such a big baby, and her doctors were stunned that they were delivering the heaviest baby girl in the world. Nandini's baby appears to be in good health, free of diabetes and any sort of thyroid issues, but is being kept in the neonatal intensive care unit as a precaution while they monitor her health, though she should be released in a few days.
Most babies are in the 7-pound range, which means Nandini's little girl is double the weight of an average baby. Babies larger than 9 pounds and 15 ounces are considered above average in size and are classified as macrosomic ("of large body") and are sometimes the result of gestational diabetes, thyroid issues, an obese parent or genetics. That doesn't seem to be the case with Nandini's daughter, however.
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Since macrosomic babies aren't all that common, they typically make headlines. In 2015, a baby boy weighing in at 14.77 pounds was born in India. At the time, he was India's biggest baby ever born, but Nandini's daughter has now swiped that title. Nandini's daughter is now considered the biggest baby girl ever born in the world. She upstaged Carisa Rusack, who was born weighing 14.5 pounds to a Massachusetts couple in 2014.
All three of these babies pale in comparison to the largest baby ever born — a healthy baby boy weighing in at a whopping 22 pounds and 8 ounces was born in Italy in September of 1955. Can you say "ouch"?
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Pregnancy can be uncomfortable for anyone at a certain point, especially if you're carrying a larger baby, much less one that is considered macrosomic. Kudos to the women who have soldiered through the pregnancies and deliveries of some of the world's largest babies — our hats are off to you and your superhuman abilities.