Parenting

Mom Delivers 15-Pound Baby -- After Being Told She Had a 15% Chance of Ever Conceiving

ParentingPublished Mar 21, 2019
By Kaitlin Stanford
Joy Buckley and her husband visit their daughter Harper in the NICU.CBS News/YouTube

Boy, do I love a good story about a person who beat the odds. (What can I say? It makes my heart happy.) Well, a story out of Elmira, New York, is serving up just the right dose of happiness this week -- with a side of OMG*.* I'm talking about the incredible story of Joy Buckley, who gave birth March 12 to one of the biggest babies on record, years after doctors told her she'd likely never conceive.

In fact, Buckley -- who suffers from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) -- was once told she had just a 15 percent chance of ever conceiving naturally.

She and her husband tried for seven years, before eventually deciding to adopt, according to the New York Post. But in May 2016, they were shocked to learn they were pregnant, and nine months later, Joy gave birth for the first time -- to an 11-pound baby boy.

Seemingly overnight, the pair became a family of four. But last year, the Buckleys got another surprise when they learned they were pregnant for a second time, with their third child.

Joy told CBS News she knew her daughter was going to be big but "didn't anticipate no 15-pound baby."

Apparently, neither did her doctors. Little Harper Buckley was taken to the NICU soon after her birth, so her sugar and oxygen levels could be closely monitored. 

By all accounts, she's doing fine. And as for Mom? Well, she's recovering from, you know, carrying around a 15-pound baby and all.

“I felt like I was hit by two tractor-trailers,” Joy told the New York Post this week. “It was pretty violent. She got stuck under my ribcage.”

(OUCH. If that doesn't give you an accurate visual of what the end of that pregnancy was like, I don't know what will.)

Harper was ultimately delivered via C-section at Arnot Ogden Medical Center, where she's apparently the biggest baby on record, according to WETM, citing records dating back some 30 years.

Still, she's not the biggest baby ever -- that title belongs to a baby born in Ohio in 1879, who weighed in at a whopping 22 pounds.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the baby also measured 28 inches long though sadly only lived for 11 hours.

Still, there have been plenty of other large births on record in the last few years, such as the birth of a baby boy in December in Texas, who weighed in at 14 pounds, 13 ounces. And the baby from Sacramento, California, who was born in 2017 weighing 13 pounds. (And you thought Jessica Simpson's 10-pound baby was big!)

The average weight of a newborn baby is around 7.5 pounds, though generally a weight between 5 and 10 pounds is considered normal, according to the University of Michigan. And even though every birth and child is different, baby boys generally tend to weigh more than baby girls, firstborns are usually lighter than later siblings, and larger parents may produce larger babies.

As for the Buckleys, they're just happy their baby girl seems to be doing fine -- and that their family of five is now complete.

"The thing I've always wanted to do in my life was be a mom," Joy told WETM. "Finding out the first time was overjoyed, and then the second time I was just like, 'I'm gonna be a mom to three kids now, you know?' It's something I've always wanted to do."

Speaking with the New York Post, she quipped that her daughter "may end up with a linebacker build, just like me." Although the physical recovery may take a while, she's powering through. 

“I’m up moving around, and I can walk now," Joy shared. "I’m so relieved to be done feeling that [physical] pressure."

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