When Jennifer and Eric Medlock found out they were expecting their second child, they were over the moon. Jennifer struggles with severe polycystic ovary syndrome, and she required fertility treatment to conceive their first child, daughter Annabelle.
"My last treatment they said my follicle was going to turn into a cyst," Jennifer recalled. "They were wrong, it turned into her. I love proving people wrong."
When the couple went to start their next round of fertility treatment to try for a second child, they discovered that they were expecting naturally, even though doctors told Jennifer it would be extremely hard due to her PCOS.
"We tried anyway, and prayed," Jennifer said.
The praying worked, and they were expecting their son, Ali. Jennifer had a fairly normal pregnancy, and there was nothing to indicate that her baby might break any weight records. Of course, she assumed her newborn would be large; Annabelle was more than 9lbs when she was born.
But nothing could prepare them for Ali's birth. Jennifer had a Cesarean section, and she remembers hearing comments from the nurses.
"We heard a 'Oh my!' behind the curtain and I was like 'Oh my what?'" Jennifer recalled. "I was like, 'Oh my God! Really?"
Ali ended up weighing almost 15lbs! He clocked in at 14lbs 13oz. He is the largest baby born at Arlington Medical Hospital in Arlington, Texas on record. Typically, newborn babies weigh between six and 8.5lbs, so Ali was twice the size of a standard newborn.
Despite being overall healthy, Ali required a week-long stay in the NICU due to low blood sugar and low platelets, but he has since been able to go home.
Jennifer doesn't care that her son was born so large, not that it really matters how much he weights. She's just happy he's here.
"He's my special little baby. It doesn't matter how big he is, I'm so blessed to have him," Jennifer said.
Eric did mention that at just two weeks old, Ali is already wearing three to six month clothes, and he's already in a size three diaper.
"We skipped (size) zero very quickly," he joked.
The doting dad echoes his wife's statement, saying that despite Ali's size, he's just a normal baby.
"He's sleeping and eating and he's just a healthy boy," he said. "Just a little bit bigger than you would expect."
Being born so big, and to a couple who weren't sure they could have another child, Ali is destined for greatness, at least according to his parents.
"He is meant for something big. Maybe not football, everybody keeps saying that," Jennifer laughed.
[H/T: WCVB]