WARNING: This article contains a graphic photo.
A baby was born still inside its amniotic sac at a California hospital earlier this month in what doctors said was a medical rarity, WTKR reported.
Doctors in the delivery room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center were in awe when baby Silas was lifted out of his mother's womb via C-section with the water bag intact. The newborn was still receiving oxygen through the placenta that was inside the sac along with the umbilical cord.
"We caught our breath," said neonatologist Dr. William Binder, who knew he had just seconds to capture an image of the rare moment with his cellphone.
Amniotic sacs usually rupture right before a pregnant woman goes into labor - hence the familiar phrase "my water broke." But that did not happen for Silas, who was born three months premature.
"It was definitely like a clear film where you cold definitely make out his head and his hair," Chelsea Philips, Silas' mother, told WTKR. "He was kind of in a fetal position and you could see like his arms and his legs curled up," she added.
Binder set to work on freeing the newborn after the quick photo op, noting he had to make it quick "because at the same time, we want to get the baby out of that sac, start helping the baby to begin breathing."
Baby Silas is still being cared for by hospital staff until he is strong enough to go home next month. Philips said she didn't even know how special his birth was until hours later when her mother showed her the picture Binder took, the station reported.
"When I heard that was actually really rare I was like 'oh my gosh you're a special little baby.'"
