A breathtaking video clip of a newborn is taking the internet by storm.
The video was taken immediately after the birth and shows an adorable newborn baby still encased in the amniotic sac.
It has been shared over 68,000 times and has attracted comments from viewers all over the world. In the video, the newborn baby can be seen squirming and yawning inside the sac. The rare sight was filmed on a smartphone and later uploaded to Facebook.
It has proved to be extremely popular on social media – no doubt because it allows a glimpse of what life is like inside the womb. It is amazing to see this beautiful newborn baby, who seems almost unaware that the birth has happened.
It’s rare for babies to be born within their amniotic sac. Usually, the sac bursts during labour; this is known as the ‘waters breaking’. All too often, doctors and midwives will take it upon themselves to break the waters if the sac has not burst spontaneously. The artificial rupture of the membranes, although quite common in hospital births, carries some potential risks to mother and baby.
You can find out more about why you might want to refuse this procedure during labour here.
The amniotic sac is the baby’s home in the uterus. Filled with amniotic fluid, the sac helps to keep the developing baby safe from harm. The baby in the video is still attached to his mother via the umbilical cord, allowing oxygen to continue to pass between the two. As you can see, the doctors don’t seem in any rush to release the baby from the sac, even pausing to point out the baby’s yawn.
The doctor uses a surgical implement to pierce the membrane carefully, and then the baby takes that all important first breath and immediately begins to cry. It’s undeniably amazing, and was probably a very special sight for the parents to witness.
However, wouldn’t it have been even better if the brand new mama had been a little closer to the action? The baby can be seen lying on a blue surgical sheet and the mama is nowhere in sight; you would hope she was able to enjoy some skin-to-skin contact with her newborn immediately after the video was taken.
The video, posted to Facebook in February, has been viewed more than 25 million times. It’s not hard to see why it went viral; this type of birth is extremely rare – with only about 1 in 80,000 babies being born while still in the amniotic sac. See the video below!
