Mum gives birth naturally to one of the UK's biggest babies weighing almost 13lbs
Watch: One of the UK's biggest babies has been born - weighing nearly 13lbs
A mum has given birth naturally to one of the UK's biggest babies, who weighed in at almost 13lb.
Ruth Harvey, 36, from Dundonald, Ayrshire, welcomed her "chunky monkey" newborn Tabitha, on February 28 this year.
Tabitha was born two-and-a-half weeks late and weighed an incredible 12lbs 9oz when she was delivered at home.
Despite being just a few weeks old the newborn is already wearing baby clothes for tots aged three to six months.
The mum-of-three gave birth to Tabitha in a birthing pool at home with partner Eddie Gillan, 44, and a team of midwives, following an eight-and-a-half hour labour.
"I think I make big babies," Harvey, an assistant service manager of a family support service, explains.
"My other two were 9lbs 9oz and 10lbs 1oz."
"The team of midwives said they haven't had a baby this big during a home birth," she adds.
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Despite her baby's size, Harvey describes the labour and birth of her daughter as an "enjoyable experience".
During the labour Ruth was given NHS-funded aromatherapy, and had acupuncture during pregnancy.
She was able to walk around the front room during labour before getting back in the birthing pool while she had contractions.
Siblings Ted, six, and Brody, nine, who are Harvey's kids from a previous relationship, and Gillan's children Eva, 11, and Oliver, 13, also got to listen to Tabitha's heartbeat.
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"It was like Call the Midwife, all the midwives were giving her [Tabitha] kisses and cuddles.
"You can't imagine giving birth to a 12lbs baby being an enjoyable experience, but it was.
"It was relaxed, I'm sure it was because I was at home.
"I was in the pool on my hands and knees," she continues. "There's a school of thought about how animals give birth in dark, calm environments. Two of our children were upstairs asleep.
"They came down and my mum and dad took them out for breakfast. When they came back I was lying on the sofa with Tabitha.
"It was such a great experience."
Harvey believes the fact she had a chilled birth has also contributed to her recovery, in spite of Tabitha's unusual size.
"When you are pregnant, you aren't ill, it's a really natural experience to be growing a baby and bringing it into the world," she explains.
"The recovery has been quicker, I'm doing the school run again."
Her partner putting up fairy lights also helped make the birth relaxing, she says.
"The aromatherapy and acupuncture, people think 'oh god what is this hippy stuff' but it was great," Harvey adds.
"These things are going to increase oxytocin, the happy hormone.
"It was like being in a spa with aromatherapy oils and a hot pool," she adds.
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While Harvey says some people have commented on the size of her baby, she was intrigued to learn more about other big babies born in the UK, so looked it up in the Guinness Book of World Records in the library.
She learned that Guy Carr is the UK's biggest baby weighing in at 15lb 8oz at his birth in 1992, followed by George King who tipped the scales at 15lb 7oz in 2013.
Hefty tot Alpha Stone Mitchell was Britain's third largest newborn when he arrived via Caesarean section on October 28, 2021 at John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford, weighing 14lbs 15oz.
Additional reporting SWNS.
