CHENNAI: A young woman from Kancheepuram gave birth to a 5.1 kg boy at the district headquarters hospital there on Tuesday, perhaps the heaviest child in the State through normal delivery.
Seeing the size of her stomach, people had asked B Banumathi (32), from Pillayarpalayam if she were carrying twins, often in a lighter vein. But the Urban Primary Health Centre in Kancheepuram realised that the child in her was unusually heavy after seeing the scan, and referred her to the government headquarters hospital three days ago.
“A few hours before the delivery, doctors had told me that the baby would be a little heavy,” Banumathi told Express. Having given birth to two children weighing 3.4 kg and 3.7 kg, she was expecting a slightly heavier child. “But I did not expect this heavy a baby,” she added.
The gynaecologist and obstetrician at the hospital, Dr N Gayathri Suresh, who conducted the delivery said they had estimated the child to weigh about 4.75 kg as both Banumathi and her husband, E Balamurugan, a silk saree designer, were well built. Uterine opening and other health parameters were favourable for normal delivery, so they induced pain and carried out the delivery at 12.40 pm. “But we did not expect a baby this heavy through normal delivery. The new-born and his mother are fine.
A scan report showed there was a large amount of amniotic fluid. Usually, there are chances for heavy births for a diabetic mother. But, the mother was non-diabetic in this case, Dr Gayathri added.
Speaking to Express, the joint director of Kancheepuram District Medical Services, Dr V Vijaykumar, said, “This is the first time in the State that a baby weighing 5.1 kg has been born through normal delivery.” The most recent such case in India was in 2012 at Bhosari in Maharashtra where a woman gave birth to a child weighing 5 kg.
“This is our third boy baby; all three born through normal delivery," said Balamurugan. Sadly, their first child died after 45 days due to jaundice, the father said, keeping his fingers crossed that all would be well with the newborn and mother.