Baby weighs in at 13 lbs. at birth

MILWAUKEE, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- At 13 pounds, 1 ounce, Jeffrey Rogers Jr. weighs in at nearly twice the size of the typical newborn.

Though the weight is nowhere near the record -- a 24-pound boy born in 1879 in Seville, Ohio, to Anna Bates -- the birth really took a weight off for Joanne Rogers.

"The second I had him, I lost 24 pounds," Joanne Rogers told Thursday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Just to get the baby out, believe me, it was the best Christmas present I ever had.

Average birth weight is 7 pounds, 5 ounces.

Jeffrey was born last Friday, three weeks premature, at St. Luke's Medical Center by Caesarean section.

"I couldn't believe his cheeks," Rogers said. "He had the biggest ones I had ever seen."

Rogers, 32, developed diabetes during pregnancy and was forced to take insulin, quit work and sleep in a recliner by her seventh month. She gained nearly 30 pounds in the last month, prompting doctors to decide to deliver the baby early.

Doctors had expected the baby to weigh 9 1/2 to 10 pounds. Rogers' daughter Andrea, 12, weighed in at 9 1/2 pounds at birth.

Jeffrey was born with an enlarged heart and underdeveloped lungs but is progressing nicely and is expected to be released from the hospital during the weekend.

The father, Jeff Rogers, said he wasn't too worried about the birth.

"But I didn't expect this. ... We were really amazed," he said.