A woman in the US has given birth to a baby weighing over 15 pounds.

Joi Buckley from New York welcomed the baby girl named Harper on Monday. "I knew she was going to be big, but I didn't anticipate no 15-pound baby," she told WETM News. The infant weighed 15 pounds and five ounces at birth - as much as a six month old. She already has a full head of hair and measures almost two feet in length. Harper is the biggest baby ever born at Arnot Odgen Medical Centre in Elmira, a town in upstate New York. She was brought to the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit after the delivery so doctors could monitor her sugar and oxygen levels. "It's definitely hard," Ms Buckley said of not being able to bring her daughter home straight away. "But I know that she won't be in forever, she'll be coming home soon." It comes two years after Harper's older brother was born weighing 11 pounds. She also has an older sister whom her parents adopted a seven years ago after being told they'd never be able to conceive their own kids. Ms Buckley has encouraged other couples struggling to get pregnant to keep the faith. "Don't give up, 'cause it's right there. It's definitely right there 'cause my kids are total proof of that."