Chelsea Philips didn’t see any of what happened in the operating room.
Her son Silas was born by cesarean at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, three months earlier than expected, at 26 weeks.
And he came into the world completely wrapped in his amniotic sac, a transparent film through which his head and hair could be seen, with his arms and legs bent in the fetal position.
It’s what doctors call being born “en caul”, something that happens in fewer than 1 in 80.000 births.
The strangest thing is that it happened during a cesarean, because the scalpel usually punctures the sac. This time it remained intact, along with the placenta and umbilical cord.
Neonatologist William Binder took out his cellphone, took a photo, and then punctured the membrane with his fingers to help the baby breathe.
Chelsea found out when her own mother showed her the picture.
Silas was discharged from the neonatal ICU in February 2015 and returned home healthy.