Watch CBS News

Oh, baby! Massachusetts mom gives birth to 14-pounder

BOSTON - Toward the end of her pregnancy in April, strangers were stopping Caroline Ruscak on the street to ask if she was carrying twins. She wasn't, and she didn't appreciate the question.

But the Burlington, Mass., woman was in a lot of pain, something she hadn't experienced with her first pregnancy. Turns out, the size of baby No. 2 had a lot to do with it, as CBS Boston reports.

"Three weeks before the scheduled C-section," Ruscak told WBZ-TV, "they were estimating that she was 11.5 pounds."

The doctors were wrong. When baby Carisa arrived at Massachusetts General Hospital on the afternoon of April 22, she weighed in at an impressive 14 pounds, 5 ounces.

"Everyone in the operating room was like, 'Oh my God, look at the size of this baby! Let's get her on the scale. What does she weigh?' Nobody could believe it," said Ruscak.

"People were like, 'We need to check the records; this could be the biggest baby we've ever seen here.'"

She wasn't quite. Another baby born at MGH in 2002 matched Carisa's measurements, so it's a tie for first place.

Ruscak is 5-foot-9 and her husband, Bryan, is 6-foot-6. Their first daughter tipped the scales at 10 pounds, 10ounces when she was born two years ago.

"So we're bigger people in general," Ruscak explained. "It just makes sense."

Both mom and baby Carisa are healthy and were expected to head home by Friday.


View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.