After 19 heart-rending miscarriages, Cary and Tim Patonai welcomed their son Finnley, who weighed in at 14 pounds, 1 ounce – twice the size of an average newborn.
“Finnley was a little celebrity at the hospital. Everyone wanted a selfie with him,” Cary, 36, told TODAY. “The OB-GYN who performed the C-section said that in 27 years he had never seen a newborn that size. There was so much excitement in the delivery.”
Had Finnley, who also is tall as a baby at 23.75 inches, arrived two weeks later on his due date, doctors told the Arizona couple, he could have weighed 16½ pounds. The largest newborn in the U.S. was 22 pounds, according to the Guinness World Records. He died 11 hours later.
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“(Doctors) were like, oh my God, ‘I can’t believe he’s so big.’ They couldn’t wait to get him on the scale,” Cary told ABC 15 in Arizona. “They got him on the scale like 14.1. I’ve never seen it that big. The doctor and one of the sweetest nurses there, they were all taking selfies with us. They asked permission of course, but they were just so pumped.”
The Patonais share two other sons Devlen, 10, and Everett, 2, who both were nowhere near the size of Finnley. Devlen was 8 pounds, 2 ounces, and Everett was 11 pounds, 11 ounces – still a large size.
The couple had experienced 19 miscarriages while trying to grow her family.
“Two of the miscarriages were sets of twins,” Cary told USA TODAY. “It was was traumatic for the whole family, especially our oldest child (Devlen). Each loss would break his little heart.”
Finnley couldn’t fit into his homecoming outfit and is already wearing a size 2 diaper.
“He’s gonna be a football player,” Tim Patonai said. “Get him in those pads.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Arizona mom gives birth to healthy 14-pound baby after 19 miscarriages
