When Markie Smith was pregnant with her third child, she trusted her instincts when choosing a name for her baby boy. She didn’t realize just how fitting it would be until the moment he was born.
Smith, 35, delivered her son by C-section on Dec. 18 at Arlington Memorial Hospital in Arlington, Texas. What happened next caught everyone in the room by surprise.
“When doctors lifted him up, the operating room fell silent — then erupted,” Smith told TODAY. “There was this gasp, and everyone just went, ‘Oh, my God,’ all at once.”
Still groggy from surgery, Smith immediately worried something was wrong.
“I was lying there totally out of it, like, ‘What? Is he OK?’” she recalled.
Looking for answers, she turned to her best friend, who was there for support.
“She just looked at me and said, ‘Girl, he’s huge,’” Smith said.
Once Smith finally saw her newborn, everything clicked.
“He reminded me of the Michelin Man — just rolls and rolls,” she told TODAY.
The baby, named Canyon, weighed 12 pounds, 10 1/2 ounces — nearly 13 pounds — far above the average newborn size. According to the American Pregnancy Association, most full-term babies weigh between 6 and 9 pounds.
While Canyon’s size stunned the delivery team, Smith said large babies weren’t entirely unexpected. She had gestational diabetes during all three of her pregnancies, a condition that can lead to larger babies, according to the Mayo Clinic. Her first two children each weighed about 8 1/2 pounds at birth.
Still, Canyon exceeded every prediction.
“Canyon is the perfect name for him,” Smith said.
Family and friends quickly embraced the theme, giving the newborn affectionate nicknames like “the Grand Canyon” and “Super Cooper,” a nod to his middle name.
The name also fits neatly alongside his siblings. Smith is also mom to Meadow, 9, and Forest, 4, continuing the family’s nature-inspired tradition.
After spending a week in the neonatal intensive care unit learning how to breathe on his own, Canyon was discharged on Christmas Eve — a moment Smith described as a miracle.
“He’s the happiest, easiest baby,” she told TODAY. “He’s just so good.”
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