When women go into labor, they typically experience the so-called "waters breaking," which refers to the amniotic sac, a bag of clear fluid where the unborn baby grows and develops, breaks on its own during child birth.
A miracle baby, however, was born still enclosed in the amniotic sac. Baby Silas, who was delivered by cesarean section at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California, was born at only 26 weeks. Doctors described his birth as a rare occurrence.
Only about one in 80,000 babies are born with some or all of their amniotic membrane still wrapped around their body. It rarely happens that the entire sac is intact, a phenomenon referred to as being born "en caul."
Silas was still completely housed in his amniotic sac when he was born. What makes this more extraordinary is that surgeons typically cut the sac during C-section. Regardless that Silas' mother, Chelsea Phillips, had an abdominal birth; the baby was born completely encased in the amniotic sac.
"A baby born in our Maxine Dunitz Children's Health Center was born fully enclosed in the amniotic sac - a term called an 'en caul' birth," Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said on a Facebook post. "The rarity only happens one in every 80,000 births! This baby boy was born premature at 26 weeks, but he is healthy and almost ready to go home."
Although Silas was healthy when he was born, doctors had to help him breathe and give him special care because he was born three months before he was due for delivery. He spent his first week in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
William Binder, who delivered Silas, does not have experience handling a perfectly intact amniotic sac. Cedars-Sinai said that the doctor was in awe when he realized the baby was completely enclosed.
Because of the short amount of time needed to get the baby out of its enclosure, Binder had to use his fingers to puncture the sac. The doctor was able to capture a photo of the child with his cellphone though before the sac was broken.
The child's mother did not know the reason behind the fuss in the delivery room until she was showed the photo of her child.
"He was kind of in a fetal position and you could see, like, his arms and his legs curled up. It was actually really cool to see," Chelsea Phillips said.
