First-time mum Danielle Mackay thought her tummy was massive, but she never imagined just how huge her baby would be. Jo Knowsley reports.
Danielle Mackay was impatient. It was June 20 – five days past her due date – and she was getting anxious about when her first baby would be born.
But neither she nor her doctors at Townsville Hospital had any idea how big a surprise was waiting to be delivered.
Chelsea Rose was born on June 25 measuring 55cm long and weighing a staggering 6.28kg (13lb 8oz) – one of Australia’s biggest babies ever.
Almost twice the size of an average newborn, her alert hazel eyes and strong back made her look more like a bouncing six-month-old.
Danielle, 23, and partner Paul Mifsud, 28, from Charters Towers, 130km south-west of Townsville, were stunned.
“My stomach had become massive in the last month or so before the birth – but as it was my first baby I really had nothing to compare it with,” says Danielle.
An antenatal check had revealed her baby was bigger than usual, so Danielle was sent to specialists in Townsville, who recommended a caesarean.
But when Chelsea was delivered she was even bigger than anyone expected.
“I heard her cry and saw her whisked past by the nurses and I thought, ‘Oh my God, that baby is really big’,” says Danielle. “Then a nurse handed her to me and told me her birth weight. I was amazed. But Paul burst out laughing. He thought it was hysterical…”
For the full story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale July 13, 2009.
Reader recipe:Cheese & bacon puffs by Colleen Purnell, Port Macquarie, NSW.
