An “en caul” birth – where the baby is born still in the amniotic sac – is extremely rare. But one that happened in Brazil on Saturday was caught on video!

En caul births only happen in one out of every 80,000 births

The amniotic sac is the bag where your unborn baby develops and grows inside the uterus. It’s made of two membranes called the amnion and the chorion. The inner membrane, the amnion, holds the amniotic fluid and the fetus. The outer membrane, the chorion, is part of the placenta. Usually, it ruptures – or your water breaks – baby is born and then the umbilical cord, placenta, and amniotic sac are pushed out or removed with the after birth.

Not in this case!

It was the second half of a C-section twin birth. The first twin had been delivered and stabilized, and they were waiting for authorization from the pediatrician to deliver the second baby when it surprised everyone by entering the world en caul.

As @anakedmidwife says when she shared the video and boosted it to viral status, they are keeping the baby in the bag but the baby seems to be still breathing through its placenta, which is still attached to its mother.

The blue cord you see is the umbilical cord.

Giselinha Correa captured this amazing video of an en caul baby birth at the Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Barretos hospital in Brazil.

You can watch the complete video, posted in Portuguese, here:

Filed under: childbirth, en caul, parenthood, pregnancy, Viral video