Community Corner

Whoa Baby! Burlington Mom Gives Birth to 14.5-Pound Girl

Carisa Ruscak was roughly double the size of a typical newborn.

A Burlington mother on Tuesday gave birth to one of the largest babies Massachusetts General Hospital has ever seen.

Carisa Ruscak tipped the scales at 14 and a half pounds—about double the weight of a typical newborn.

"I heard the weight and I was like, 'Oh my God,'" mother Caroline Ruscak told WCVB-TV. "It validated me because I was in a lot of pain when I was pregnant, so to hear the size, it made sense."

Both mother and child were in good health, according to MGH spokeswoman Terri Ogan. MGH said it was the biggest baby they've seen in about 10 years.

The heaviest baby ever recorded was a 23-pound child delivered in Ohio in 1879, according to Guinness World Records.

In 2011, a Texas woman gave birth to 16-pound JaMichael Brown.

The average birth weight of a child born in the U.S. is about 7 and a half pounds.


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