'I gave birth to a giant baby - he's almost as big as my toddler'

A mum-of-two was gobsmacked after she gave birth to a toddler-sized baby who practically "just walked out" of her.

Toni Lincoln, 33, from Essex, couldn't believe it when her son Brayden was delivered by c-section, weighing a staggering 12lbs 9oz. Staff at Broomfield Hospital were just as stunned following his delivery on January 14, nearly two weeks before her due date.

Doctors nicknamed him "the big baby", with one surgeon saying it is the biggest infant they had seen in 20 years. Brayden, now six months old, is soon going to move into 12-18 size clothing. He currently weighs a whopping 7.6kg.

The cleaner, who weighed 7Ibs 11oz herself as a newborn, said: "We made history. We didn't know he was going to be that big, it was such a shock."Doctorshad estimated Brayden would weigh between 8lbs and 9lbs - so Toni and partner Alex, a factory worker, were stunned when he came out at almost 13lbs.

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She said the size difference between him and her first-born, Ellah, nearly three, who weighed 8lbs 8oz, is "crazy" - as the pair are two-and-a-half years apart but almost the same size. She said: "When they gave him to me I was like 'I don't know if it's all the drugs I'm on or if I'm seeing things or is he huge?'. The doctors were like 'yeah, he's a little bit bigger than we anticipated. Maybe a lot bigger, maybe 12lbs 9oz,' and I said 'sorry? What did you say?'. I couldn't believe it."

Although the couple had no idea just how big Brayden would be, Toni said she "knew something wasn't quite right." She said: "I couldn't walk at the end [of my pregnancy], I couldn’t get out of bed - and now I know why. I was carrying around an extra five stone. He was nearly a stone himself and then obviously the placenta and the fluid. I dropped 30 kilos when he came out. I felt like a different person."

The couple had to buy all new clothes and nappies after Brayden arrived, and gave away everything they'd prepared - as he was so big he completely skipped newborn sizing. Toni said: "We had to go out and buy all new clothes for him, nappies, we had nothing. He was literally a newborn in 0-3 months clothes.

"My partner had to run out to Primark. He went straight into size one nappies and then into two a couple of days later. I gave all the clothes from friends and family to the hospital for other patients. I thought I was prepared. We bought 0-1 month and thought we don't need 0-3 but little did I know."

Toni was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, but doctors were confused as to the cause of his size. She said: "They said it could be gestational diabetes but my sugars were actually better this time. My sugars were awful last time with my daughter and she was normal size."

Doctors believe Brayden would have grown to 14lbs if he had gone full-term. He had to be pulled out by his hips and was born with talipes, where one foot was bent inward, a result of his position in the womb. "They said if I had a natural birth he would have died because he was upside down," Toni said.

Brayden was taken straight to neonatal intensive care, where he spent a week on oxygen due to low blood sugar. Brayden was so big he couldn't be seen clearly on a 36-week scan, and Toni said "every consultant from Broomfield" was in the delivery room for the six-and-a-half hour c-section.

"I had to have a very unusual scar," she said. "I've got a vertical scar instead of a horizontal one again, because of my problems last time. It all went a bit wrong so they wanted to be prepared. The surgeon said it was the biggest scar they had ever done. It comes all the way up to the top of my stomach. It's massive - 32 centimetres."

The mum added: "The surgeon said he was the biggest baby she has ever delivered herself in 20 years. And the consultant was like 'he just walked out'." Even family didn't believe it at first. Toni said: "When I told my family how big he was they were like 'don't be silly'.

"I rang my mum, Sally, 59 and said 'I've got something to tell you'. I showed her and she said 'oh my god!'. People keep joking he's going to college soon. When him and my toddler lie down together, they look the same age. You wouldn’t think they were two years and four months apart."