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04/27/2024 03:48:05 pm

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Baby Delivered Fully Encased in a ‘Bubble’

Baby Delivered Fully Encased in a ‘Bubble’

(Photo : Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles) Baby Silas Philips was born fully encased in a big bubble.

A baby born three months before full term at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles not only caught the attention of hospital staff but also took social media by storm.

In a rare case that only happens in every 80,000 births, bouncing baby Silas Philips was born fully encased in what looks like a huge water bubble.

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Birth specialist William Binder said the baby's birth caught everyone's breath -- delivery staff described it was a "moment of awe" -- when he was born via Caesarean section.

The baby was then aided with a device to breathe on his own and was given special care.

The baby's grandmother, Silas Philips, said the sac was like a clear film and she could see her grandchild's hair and head.

When the mother, Chelsea Philips, was told how rare her baby's birth was, she was stunned but managed to say how special her little baby is.

It is a particularly unexpected in a C-section delivery, because the scalpel usually unloads the amniotic sac of fluids. The delivery physician must have missed the baby's.

The amniotic sac is a thick case that covers all babies in the mother's womb right after conception. As the baby develops, the case is filled with fluid, including the infant's liquid wastes.

The case protects the baby from jostles and bumps during its term.

Usually, right before birth, the case breaks and the fluid is unloaded, which is where the expression "breaking water" comes from.

There are times the case sticks to a part of the baby, according to experts. It can, in one case, stick to the baby's head, which makes it look like the infant is wearing a transparent space helmet. That is also where the word "caul" originates -- it is taken from the Latin words that mean a helmet.

Such births with an amniotic sac helmet are indeed rare, but to have the whole baby inside the sac, or what doctors call "en caul," happens in less than one in 80,000 births, Cedars-Sinai said. 

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