Picture of 19.2 pound newborn next to 'standard size' newborn

[Liberal_in_LA]

A large newly born unnamed baby boy (right) lies next to a more standard sized new born baby at a hospital in Medan, North Sumatra, on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. An Indonesian woman gave birth to the 19.2-pound baby boy, the heaviest newborn ever recorded in the country, a doctor said.

Spectators flocked to an Indonesian hospital Friday for a glimpse of the country's largest ever recorded baby — a 19.2-pound (8.7 kilogram) boy born by cesarean section to a diabetic mother.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/24/international/i211555D97.DTL#ixzz0S5egAMUt

[BlooInBloo]

1. Why is "standard size" in single-quotes? Is there really no such thing as...

the arithmetic average?

Sigh - and to think I spent years coming up with all sorts of fancy ways to calculate it. :(

[Lithos]

3. Well

I just knew the mother was diabetic. Untreated diabetes during pregnancy will likely result in much larger and abnormal birth weights. So, it is not too far off the mark to state that "standard-sized" means "normal" in terms of no additional complications which affected the birth outcome.

L-

[BlooInBloo]

Ok, I completely understand that average in the entire population...

may very well be very different from average in a sub-class of that population. That's typically called something like "conditional probability".

It certainly doesn't mean there's no such thing as average - it only means you have to specify the group you're averaging *over*. So I still don't understand why the single-quotes are used.

[obliviously]

11. We should lobby for the abolition of single quotes now!

[Bobbieo]

21. Single quotes are used in headlines. Double quotes in body copy.

[Bobbieo]

22. Single quotes are used in headlines. Double quotes in body copy.

Journalistic style.

[NYC_SKP]

2. "Ow, Oww, Owwwww, OUCH!!!"

:fear:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. Same reaction here!

I cringed. Which was a huge change from my normal hormonal-rush reaction to a baby picture. :D

[Zoeisright]

9. +2

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. I went diabetic... and then read diabetic

not shocked or surprised.

Hope mom is fine, and gets back to some sugar control.

Oh and that son does not develop it later.

[napi21]

6. God bless the mom! I reemember when my 7.9 baby boy was boorn (46 years ago),, the lady who was my

roommate had a baby boy who was 13.5! The diff. wasn;t as dramatic as this one is, but even the nurses were saying he looked like he was 3 months old. The pain of childbirth was very fresh in my mind then too, and my heart went out to that mom, as it does to this one today!

[givemebackmycountry]

7. It's RUSH LIMBAUGH'S BABY PIC!

And he's still freaking crying!
But he's making a whole lot more than the infant on the left.

I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this pic.
Yes, I am.

edited to add
I really do hope that Mom and the "little" cutie are doing well.
I understand that the USC football program has already sent the little tyke a letter of intent.

[obliviously]

13. I'm thinking baby back ribs!

[LiberalAndProud]

8. The little one looks rather astonished.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. he/she does. Love the expression on his/her cute face

:loveya: :loveya:

[politicat]

12. Did anyone else think "Fezzik"?

Best wishes to child and family.

[elleng]

14. Risuddin's extreme weight

was the result of excessive glucose from his mother during pregnancy, the doctor said.

[thunder rising]

15. GOT MILK ... NOW IS GOOD!

[DRoseDARs]

16. Prepare for the inevitable...

...shoop da whoop.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Oh, my...

I thought my 9 lb. 2 oz. one was hard to push out. Whoa....

[Manifestor_of_Light]

18. This is why I thanked medical science for a C-section.

Or I would no doubt be dead. For a HUGE eight pounder! :D

Healthy and grown, she is, now.

[tishaLA]

19. My mother had gestational diabetes with all three of us

I was the largest, at 12.10. God bless C sections.

[Berry Cool]

24. Pity my mother, who gave birth to me at 10.8 vaginally!

And she didn't have diabetes.

[stuball111]

20. A future SUMO Wrestler...

Pretty big lil feller... I hope he's healthy and does OK...

[malaise]

23. And the little facter

appears to be screaming for a big mac before he leaves the nursery. :D

[PassingFair]

25. My baby girl was 24" long at birth, too...

but she weighed 9 lbs, not NINETEEN!

Indonesian babies are probably much tinier
than Dutch or English babies.

[Ezlivin]

26. The SUV of babies

I'll bet that baby will run up quite a grocery bill.

[piratefish08]

27. "Get In Me BELLY!"

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. I am very interested in what happenes now. Does the growth rate fall off from here on out until

the baby becomes "average?" (I've known babies born to mums with diabetes but never this large. The other kids do seem to be of average size now.)

[RagAss]

29. What a great photo.

[benld74]

30. I was 10 8. My mother was 5'2"

[Kansas Wyatt]

33. I was 10 4 and my mom said I was the easiest.

[JBoy]

31. Fishermen would call that baby a "lunker".

[AwakeAtLast]

32. My daughter didn't weigh 20 lbs. until she was 8 mos. old

I know because we wanted her to be heavier so we could legally turn her infant car seat around - she was growing out of it by length!

We went ahead and did it anyway. We were afraid she would get her foot caught between the infant seat and the car seat.

Great pic!

[Arkana]

34. His poor mother.

I really hope she didn't have to go into labor at all before the C-section.

[greenbriar]

35. WOW

I am glad she had a C-section

[greenbriar]

36. he is cute

bet he will be a doll