ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA) – The saying goes “everything is bigger in Texas,” and that certainly applies to one of the state’s newest residents: a baby born at nearly 13 pounds.
“My favorite one is his little wrist roll right here,” Markie Smith said.
Smith learned recently that life is full of surprises.
“That’s just wild,” Smith said.
Smith’s delivery was expected, but the way the birth room erupted was not.
“Everybody, the whole room just was like, ‘Oh my god. Like, what, what, what?’” Smith said. “They pulled the curtain down and he was just massive.”
Her giant baby boy, born in Arlington, weighed in at nearly 13 pounds.
“Just rolls for days. I was in shock; I couldn’t believe it. Like, he looks like the Michelin Man,” Smith said.
His pre-picked name, Canyon, turned out to be the perfect fit.
“He’s my chunky boy,” Smith said.
He now goes by Grand Canyon.
“I have gestational diabetes. You’re expected to have a larger baby, but my last two were 8.5 pounds, both,” she said. “So I was expecting maybe a 10-pound baby, but definitely not a 12-pound baby.”
Twelve pounds, 10.5 ounces, to be exact.
“Here’s his fat rolls. He’s a good boy,” she said.
And he’s perfectly healthy.
“He’s three weeks old, wearing three-month-old clothes,” Smith said.
He was a bundle of joy arriving via C-section just days before Christmas during a time the mother from Azle, Texas, needed him most.
“God blessed me with this baby, and I was going through some hardships last year,” she said.
There was the loss of her mom and a bad breakup, but the love around Canyon’s arrival marks a new day.
“Literally, he saved my life,” Smith said.
A Texas-sized baby, she said, was a Christmas miracle.
“Like, who has a 13-pound baby? Like, what?” Smith said. “I just don’t understand. I didn’t think babies got this big.”
The average weight for a full-term baby is around seven pounds.
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