Award-winning photographer Robin Baker of Birth Blessings Photography captured an amazing and rare occurrence – the en caul home birth of twins.
En-caul births are super rare in that they only happen in 1 out of 80,000 births. En-caul means that babies are born still fully inside the amniotic sac, with these babies commonly known as “caulbearers.”
En-caul births are not to be confused with births that involve the amniotic sac covering a part of the baby’s body—these are called “caul births.” There are two ways caul births can present: more often than not, the caul (or sac) will cover the baby’s head and face in such a way that it almost looks like the child is wearing a helmet, but sometimes it can extend down to the baby’s torso. En-caul births happen more infrequently and tend to be seen in premature births.
The birth took place at home, which was the family’s plan all along. The couple are experienced home-birthers having delivered their first child at home. Baker states that this twin birth was also an unassisted affair — the entire labor went so quickly that the OB-GYN and his team didn’t actually arrive until after the babies were born.
According to Buzzfeed, they had no idea the baby boy would be born en-caul until he was crowning. The mother punctured and peeled back the amniotic sac and the father caught the twins in his hands. The first baby, a girl, had thirty minutes of bonding time with her parents before the second baby was born.
Check out this fascinating of another en-caul baby to get a better idea of what it means (and looks like!)
https://www.facebook.com/jasmine.perez.148553/videos/10208643045544749/