A woman has revealed how she broke her tailbone while delivering her 22-inch son, a child she conceived with her far taller husband.
Sharmin Brunell, a 21-year-old mother from Los Angeles, California, is a petite 5'1", or 155cm tall. Her husband, Graham, is more than a foot taller - standing at 6'3" or 190cm.
And it appears Graham possesses the dominant genes, with their first child Amaré measuring a whopping 22 inches (56cm) when he was birthed by his mother over two years ago.
Documenting her experience on the video-sharing app TikTok, Brunell revealed that Amaré was in the 99th percentile of the paediatric growth chart - indicating he was taller and heavier than 99 percent of other newborns.
In the video shared to her account last week, Brunel filmed herself happily dancing alongside the caption: 'My 5'1" self getting married to a 6'3" man thinking our height difference is so cute."
Brunell then quickly rearranged her expression to a look of displeasure, with the text reading: "Breaks my tailbone giving birth to our 99th percentile baby."
"Yeah he was massive," she added.
The video has since gone viral on the platform, amassing more than 6.1 million views and almost 900,000 likes at the time of writing.
With the clip attracting the attention of millions, Brunell provided further insights into her injury and traumatic birthing experience in a series of follow-up videos. However, she quickly made it clear that she'd "go through it again" to have more children with her husband in the future.
In a separate clip, Brunell revealed her "energetic" child to her curious audience. At just two-years-old, Amaré already wears clothes designed for five-year-olds, she added.
She also reiterated that at 22 inches, Amaré was already a third of her height when he was born.
While the majority of viewers praised Brunell for her strength and resilience, others were staggered by her experience, expressing their shock that the young mum was willing to have more children.
"I can't believe he's okay with putting you through that," one person wrote, to which Brunell replied: "There's terms for my hubby if he wants more kids with me since I'll potentially break my tailbone again… [as] long as I'm unwell he'd have to get us a chef, he'd have to get cleaning services for our home, and he'd have to get a caretaker for me and our kids.
"That's the least he could do while I heal from a major injury."
Other viewers couldn't believe that Brunell hadn't delivered Amaré via caesarean delivery, or C-section. Cesarean delivery is a surgical procedure used to deliver a baby through incisions in the abdomen and uterus. A C-section can be planned ahead of time if the mother develops pregnancy complications.
Responding to the comments, the young mum agreed that giving birth to her "massive" son on her back had likely contributed to her injury.
"I was in such terrible pain for two years post-partum that I'd rather give birth all natural than break my tailbone again," Brunell told her audience.
Speaking to the pregnancy and motherhood outlet Romper, Deena Blumenfeld, a certified childbirth educator and Fellow of American College of Childbirth Educators, said that while tailbone pain is not uncommon during and after childbirth, fractures are considered rare.
She told Romper that a fracture is more likely to occur if a woman has previously broken her tailbone, or if the baby is very large.
She also agreed that women at risk for a tailbone fracture should not be positioned on their backs while in labour.
"Even semi-seated, reclined positions, where the mother is putting pressure on her tailbone and sacrum, can decrease the natural mobility of the joint and increase the pressure on it," she told Romper.
Instead, Blumenfeld recommended upright, forward-leaning positions like standing, lunging or squatting.
"A baby who is not ideally positioned during birth can cause trauma to the tailbone, but this is often avoided by a mother who is mobile during labour."
It appears Brunell's experience has come as a shock to other petite women with much taller partners, many of whom expressed their concerns about childbirth in the future - while others shared their own stories of delivering "massive" babies.
"I'm 5'5" and he's 6'6"... I'm worried," one said, while a second shared: "Hubby is 6'7"… [our] baby was 24 inches."
"Great Danes shouldn't be with Chihuahuas for this exact reason," another joked.
