Victoria Lacatus, 528-Pound Woman, Gives Birth In Romania (PHOTO)

BUCHAREST, Romania — A 25-year-old woman weighing 528 pounds (240 kilograms) gave birth to her first baby on Thursday in what one expert called a rare and risky case. "I wanted this child with all my heart, whatever the sacrifice," the Adevarul newspaper quoted the mother, Victoria Lacatus, as saying.

Her healthy baby girl, born by cesarean section, weighed 6.4 pounds (2.9 kilograms), said Bogdan Popescu, a spokesman at Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, which is equipped to treat obese people.

Dr. Daghni Rasasingham, of Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in London, said the case was rare, given the mother's weight and height of 5.25 feet (1.6 meters), and that she would be at risk of clots, diabetes, post-birth bleeding and infection.

Popescu said Lacatus was being carefully monitored because she suffers from a thyroid problem and post-surgery complications could develop because of her morbid obesity.

Florin Costandache, who helped perform the operation, said: "It was a real challenge because she needed four times the anesthetic a normal person needs."

The chief surgeon, obstetrician Valeriu Horhoianu, said at least 10 obese women have given birth at the Bucharest hospital, but they all weighed less than 352 pounds (160 kilograms).

Nicolae Cernea, a doctor from the southern city of Craiova – where Lacatus was hospitalized for a month before delivery – said her case was unique in Romania.

In August 2008, a heavier obese woman – 560-pound (255-kilogram) Leanne Salt – gave birth to triplets in Britain.

Comments

[Two Cents]

05:48 AM on 02/24/2010

. . . so: how is she going to be able to care for an infant, not to mention a toddler???

[urnumbersix]

08:00 PM on 02/23/2010

OK - this gives lie to the comments I receive that I could get a date if I only lost 10 pounds. LOL!

And yeah, I DO feel bad that a 500 lb woman has a man, and I don't!

Woe, what a world, what a world....

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

12:19 PM on 02/23/2010

No, I believe people reply negatively because this person has allowed herself to become pregnant.
Can't reply on her weight. Who knows for sure if it was a medical problem or laziness. But to be like that AND get pregnant? No.....nope.

[Dano1974]

04:59 PM on 02/23/2010

My point exactly. I'm not going to make fun of someone's medical condition. But if they go against good common sense medical advice and put thmselves and others in jeopardy, then they have to accept their will be social backlash. Especially when the tax payers are paying for her unreasonable desire to have a baby. Funny though, I bet if she tried to adopt a baby, the state would find her unfit due to her morbid obesity.

[Erzsebet Gilbert]

09:03 AM on 02/23/2010

What the h#11... why is this considered a story to smear across international headlines? Because this woman's body doesn't fall into the social category of "normal", her human experience is also to be considered an anomaly?

And I'm disappointed in so many users of the HP - I look to previous posts and see a chain of jokes - i.e. "what man would want to do that...", "who is the father...", and mockeries like "turkey baster..." This demonstrates sexism, and part of the general cultural trend of our fascination with other people's bodies (especially female) which we feel we can safely consider monstrous and comparatively temporarily in our own form.

Shame on you all.

[Dano1974]

04:47 PM on 02/23/2010

No, shame on you. Category of "normal"? Seriously? She's not overweight for heaven's sake! She is morbidly obese! Whether it is a medical condition or just laziness is irrelevant, she should not allowed herself to become pregnant.

[Erzsebet Gilbert]

06:32 PM on 02/23/2010

Health and economic issues regarding childbirth are pertinent, and personally I am an advocate of global education on birth control and population crisis. BUT consider this huge progression of jokes centered upon how attractive or unattractive an HP user happens to find her, jests about genitalia size, a man's taste, etc.... It's sexist, since through these jokes such users gauge this woman solely according to patriarchal standards of beauty, not upon real issues. Disgrace smeared across international news. I'm not ashamed of my comment, thank you very much.

[gumptaff]

03:31 AM on 02/23/2010

Brilliant! Fanned.

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

01:17 AM on 02/23/2010

Hey now !
It was not a turkey baster.
It was a heat seeking missile.

[Hareega]

11:47 PM on 02/22/2010

Ok, she is definitely heavy, but I see people everyday in the street who weigh about 500 pounds

[heariam]

10:55 PM on 02/22/2010

528 pounds and not even 5 ft 1 .... dang ! this is unreal ...

at a loss for words ...

[PeaceOnEarth62]

08:31 PM on 02/22/2010

You know they say the camera adds 10 pounds but for gosh sake's how many cameras were there?

[kimanis]

04:57 PM on 02/22/2010

I certainly wish her the best. Let's not forget she's only 25 yrs old, plenty of time to change hopefully.

[bleeplander]

03:08 PM on 02/22/2010

Why would anyone want to impregnate her, has the world gone completely bat sh it?

[Erzsebet Gilbert]

09:08 AM on 02/23/2010

Or maybe the attractions and experiences of different bodies aren't identical to yours, and it's a bit b@tsh!t to (though considered normal) for you to make derogatory comments about these differences.

[bleeplander]

09:33 AM on 02/23/2010

Attraction isn't the issue as is safety and responsibility. The mother can not care for this child and she risks infection and death delivering via c-section. It's a burden to society no matter what. I don't care who wants to hump this woman, where a condom.

[BobQueuePublic]

12:04 PM on 02/22/2010

When I read the headline, I thought it read:

Victoria Lacatus, 528-Pound Woman, Gives Birth TO Romania

I assumed it was a repost of a story from The Onion.

Some people should be strongly discouraged from having children. In this list I include Drunks and morbidly obese people who have trouble standing up, much less caring for the kids. I personally wish Christian fundamentalists would stop reproducing, too, but evolution will eventually take care of those low-value genes.

[bleeplander]

03:06 PM on 02/22/2010

Ahahaha, fanned.

[smoothdogie]

10:44 PM on 02/22/2010

Very funny post. My thoughts went to who did the impregnating and something about turkey basters....but it was wrong on many levels.

[porsche996]

11:44 AM on 02/22/2010

You can see evidence of it everyday in American Malls and public places when you see many women like her dragging their kids around.....some men will have s e x with anything.....eewwwwwww.

[RBLRDR]

10:33 AM on 02/22/2010

On the bright side, she lost 6.4 pounds.

[gumptaff]

03:32 AM on 02/23/2010

Brilliant! Fanned.

[Aly1997]

08:44 PM on 02/20/2010

Bad Idea. The baby will end up having a mental disorder or a disease of some sort.

[MalloMel]

11:42 AM on 02/22/2010

Really? How do you know that or is that what you are hoping for. That's really sick. You should be ashamed.

[Erzsebet Gilbert]

09:04 AM on 02/23/2010

Thank you for saying this - fanned.