This incredible footage shows the second of identical twin boys being delivered from his mother’s womb while still inside his amniotic sac in a rare procedure known as an ‘en-caul’ birth.
The late-preterm twins were delivered by obstetrician Yang Huiyan at Yongkang Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital in East China’s Zhejiang Province, the facility announced last month.
Then mum-of-one Ms Hu was hospitalised after experiencing irregular contractions at 36 weeks, with Doctor Yang then deciding to deliver her identical twin boys before term in a caesarean.
Video Credit: AsiaWire / Yongkang MCHH
According to the hospital, Doctor Yang made an incision in the amniotic sac and removed the larger of the twin boys.
The second, smaller child, however, was kept in the fluid and wrapped in the sac, which was removed intact in a rare procedure caught on camera by one of the delivery room nurses.
The stunning images show the child now dubbed ‘Eggshell Baby’ shocking health workers when he emerges, with his older brother heard crying in the background.
The younger twin was later induced from the sac and placed in an incubator in neonatal ICU.
Doctor Yang explained her decision to perform Yongkang’s first ever recorded en-caul birth: “Premature babies are underweight and do not have fully developed organs or nervous systems.
“When we deliver en caul, it’s as if the baby is still in its mother’s womb. It’s relatively safer and reduces the moisture loss on the skin, which maintains the child’s body temperature.
“The method is effective at decreasing the chances of newborn morbidity, especially in underweight preterm babies.
Doctor Yang Huiyan delivers an ‘en caul’ baby at Yongkang Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Zhejiang, China Doctor Yang Huiyan delivers an ‘en caul’ baby at Yongkang Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Zhejiang, China
“For the mother, it also avoids getting amniotic fluids in her body, preventing an amniotic fluid embolism.”
Last summer, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, also in East China, delivered a en-caul child they dubbed ‘Bubble Boy’.
The late-preterm baby was delivered via a C-section at 36 weeks and did not breathe on his own for a full two minutes until he was cut out of the protective sac.
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Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
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