The pregnancy blog, Birth Without Fear, recently shared a video of a mother giving birth to her baby en caul.
This generally happens when a woman gives birth via C-section without her water breaking. During the birthing process, the amniotic sac remains intact and even swells. Doctors have to pierce the membrane to allow the child to breathe and remove it from within.
In this video, the baby is still completely encased within the amniotic sac as doctors remove him from his mother’s womb.
There’s a moment where you can see the baby’s face and arm through the translucent sac before the doctor finally uses his fingers to break the sac, freeing the baby.
It’s only then that the “water breaks.” Fluid pours out from around the baby before doctors quickly remove the membrane of the sac from his face and take him to be cleaned.
Doctors and ob-gyns reassure everyone that en caul births aren’t harmful; the main concern would be to efficiently break the sac so the child can get oxygen as soon as possible after birth.
If you’re curious about what this birth looks like, you can watch the original video here. It’s already racked up 1.2 million views and 10k shares.
