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Two enormous babies born within days of each other

Two babies born within days of each other had a combined birthweight of 405 pounds.

Joseph Griffin - nicknamed The Mighty Joe by his proud family - weighed in at 13lb 13oz when he was born by caesarean two weeks ago.

But Charlie Stokes tipped the scales at 15lbs 2oz and is the biggest baby born in the UK for 13 years. He is also thought to be the longest newborn, measuring 27 inches (69cm) in length.

Joe's mother, Sara Griffin, 25, who underwent a gruelling 40-hour attempt at a natural birth, believes her baby's size is because of her cravings for seafood throughout pregancy.

She said, "I used to eat a lot of meat but I went off it while I was pregnant.

"Instead I was eating a lot of fish and seafood, especially anything in vinegar. I was eating cockles, mussels, roll mop herrings, crab claws - anything I could get my hands on.

"My partner Mike is a fishmonger, which meant I had a steady supply.

"There's no history of big babies in the family, so I can only think it must have been the seafood."

Charlie's mother Joanne, a 26-year-old teacher, gave birth naturally after eight hours in labour -an experience she describes as "horrific".

Although the couple have a daughter Lilian who weighed a hefty 12lb when she was born 18 months ago, Joanne said of her son, "I knew he would be large but not 15lb. It was a big shock.

"The midwives told me he would be the same size or bigger. But I hadn't braced myself for this.

"We are amazed by all of this. I'm large but my husband isn't. And there's no history of big babies in the family. A couple of weeks after he was born I tried to put a notice in the local paper - but I had to repeat it twice because the woman didn't believe me."

She and her husband are trying to find out if their son is the tallest-ever newborn in the UK. The world's biggest-ever recorded baby weighed in at 23lb 23oz in Canada in 1879.

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