# Baby born in the water bag....



## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

I posted this on the VBAC forum, but I also wanted to share it with others who may not visit the VBAC forum....

These are pictures of a beautiful baby, born at home, VBAC, in a pool of warm water, in his water bag (caul)...

Here are the pictures...

and another...


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## Golden (Mar 15, 2002)

the link didn't work for me....


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

ah, try it again...I fixed them (I hope!)...


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## Phoebe (Jun 12, 2003)

Spectaular!!

I giggle out loud when I see pictures like that. I can't wait for that experience!

Very interesting to see in the water bag. I've never seen that before.

What a beautiful baby! Thanks for sharing!!

Amy


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

Awesome pictures, Pam! Thanks for sharing! Was this a snowstorm baby?

warmly, (or at least hoping to be!!!)
claudia


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## mamaroni (Sep 12, 2003)

Oh, those pictures are wonderful! Thanks for sharing (thanks and congrats to the mama too!). My son was born in the caul, but I did not get to see it. It was a wonderful experience for me--quick labor and birth, and I did not feel transition at all, even though ds's hand was up by his face when he came out, which I've heard can cause pain and slow progression. They told me it was probably because the bag was intact that I was comfortable the whole time. And, they say being born in the caul means the child will be a prophet!


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by TurboClaudia_
*Awesome pictures, Pam! Thanks for sharing! Was this a snowstorm baby?

warmly, (or at least hoping to be!!!)
claudia*

Yep! Born as the snow started to fall....when I drove home about four hours later, the snow was pretty established!


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## tinyshoes (Mar 6, 2002)

Wow!

Thanks for posting the pix--how cool, in the second image, to see that wet baby and imagine that he/she's wet from the womb (I knopw all babies are--but that idea just really struck me when I saw this pic, w/ the caul being pulled away.

I have a technical ? ... how iss the baby (and mom!) oriented in the first picture? I mean--is this babe's profile, occiput anterior, what we're seeing?


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

mom is lying on her side, and yes, that's baby's profile that we see in the first photo.


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## tinyshoes (Mar 6, 2002)

on her side...ah ha! Thsans for the ultra-speedy info...(& thanks to your snowstorm mama, too, for sharing w/ us!)


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## watermamma (Dec 29, 2003)

Beautiful! And so lucky to be born "in the caul"


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## cortsmommy (Jul 6, 2003)

Thats so cool!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing. I'm in awe.


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## Panserbjorne (Sep 17, 2003)

Pam,
There's something truly inspiring about seeing pictures from a normal and beautiful birth. I'm planning my first homebirth (just entered third trimester!) and everytime I get a little freaked out by the enormity of the choice I've made I just look at birth pictures. Is there a good place to go or book to read that has predominantly homebirth pics?


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## Shanghaimum (Jan 4, 2002)

Just wanted to share...

My dd, who is 4 months old, was also born in the caul! My gp who has been delivering babies for over 30 years had never seen it happen before.

Emma

Thank you for sharing the photos


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## BeeandOwlsMum (Jul 11, 2002)

Pam ~ those are awesome!

If I have a baby after we move to Oregon, can I have you for a midwife?


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by elisabeth_
*Is there a good place to go or book to read that has predominantly homebirth pics?*
I find the most inspiring and empowering photos are the ones at unassisted birth sites. There are so many good places on the net for beautiful homebirth photos....

Here are some links that might be helpful:

http://sabloom.crosswinds.net/Births/births.htm

http://www.compleatmother.com/childbirth_pictures.htm

http://www.birthdiaries.com/diary/GVhomebirths.htm

http://www.ourmidwife.com.au/gallery/gallery1.html

Here are some great homebirth stories:

http://www.breastandbelly.com/dora1.html

http://www.breastandbelly.com/albion5.html

http://members.tripod.com/~trevijean/homebirth.html

http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/births...lhomestory.htm

http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/stories.htm

http://www.childbirth.org/articles/s...thstories.html


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by AdinaL_
*Pam ~ those are awesome!

If I have a baby after we move to Oregon, can I have you for a midwife?







*

yes, of course! or, if you're not local, I could refer you to some great midwives! right now, I think we resemble CO alot (snow, ice, etc)...


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## BeeandOwlsMum (Jul 11, 2002)

Actually you guys have had more snow than we have this winter! How is that for strange!?


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## delicious (Jun 16, 2003)

those pics rule! thanks so much for posting them.







(I would LOVE for my babe to be born in the caul like that!)


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## Evergreen (Nov 6, 2002)

My dd was also born in the caul about one year ago. Right after her birth we had snow for the first time in 10 years! Funny, wvwn though I had a 29 hour strong labor, I never experianced transition either. I did go from 2 cm to holding a baby in less than 15 minutes, however!


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## tinyshoes (Mar 6, 2002)

thanks for the links to more great birth images! I think it is soooooooooooo important for first-time moms to SEE the part that's blurred out on TV. Vaginas _were_ made to birth babies, after all--it can be done, & it's nice to see it done!


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## Tikiniski's mom (Jul 23, 2002)

Thanks for the pictures. I was born in the caul (didn't even know the name for it) I'm going to do some research on it. I'm 39weeks tomorrow and anxious for this little gal to make an appearance. Also hopeing my planned vbac works out.

Lissy


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## XM (Apr 16, 2002)

Cool pics, Pam.. thanks for sharing!

Ezra was born in the caul, but I didn't get a chance to see it and since it was only Mike, our MW and her assistant at the birth, no one was taking pictures. Mike said it reminded him of the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring when the Orcs are being 'born', how ds was squirming inside his sack before our MW broke it open for him. Her assistant (a former L&D nurse) said it was the cleanest birth she'd ever seen (I had him on our bed).

He was only the second baby our MW had caught that was born in the caul, and she's caught a lot of babies (including my friends' breech twins, at home)...

XM


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## ilovebeingamom (Jan 1, 2002)

Pam,

I visited your website and very cool! I have a question though, one of the pics of the babies, Haden?, was 13 pounds? Is that right? And he was born at home? How did that go?

Your website was very helpful as I am considering HBAC. It led me to a lot of sources that I hadn't seen yet. Thank you so much for the wonderful info!


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

I actually had TWO 13lb babies born in my practice last year. Both were vaginal births at home. The second had a shoulder dystocia, but baby needed no resuscitation and was fine.


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## sweet tea (Jan 1, 2004)

wow..that is one of the coolest things I've ever seen! Thanks for posting!


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## love2all (Dec 13, 2003)

Pam- thanks so much for alll the pictures, congrats to all the moms and babies!!! This is going to be great preparation for my 2 children, i have been talking about what to expect, now i have a variety of photos to show them. Yippie!!!!


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## ferdinandthebull (Dec 24, 2002)

Thanks for posting those great photos!

I have a silly question about babies born in the caul. Does the placenta detach as the baby emerges? The placenta is inside the amniotic sac, right?

I had the chance to take a good look at my friend's placenta and it was attached and inside the sac, as far as I could tell. So, I wondered if babies born in the caul are coming out with the placenta immediately behind them, or does it all stretch?








:

Thanks to anyone who sheds light on this!

Andi


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

It does stretch - and usually only so far. Once the baby rotates and the body starts to emerge, the bag will usually break.


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## eilonwy (Apr 3, 2003)

Slightly







T

I read in a book somewhere that back in the day, a baby who was born in the caul was said to be protected from ever drowning, and in another book I read that they were gifted with the "sight" (psychic abilities).


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## carrots (Mar 1, 2003)

Thank you so much for the links. The stories and photos are all so amazing and real and TRUE!!


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## QueeTheBean (Aug 6, 2002)

Great pictures & story--I think that baby is so cute--I love newborns!

OT: Pam, I am floored by your sig line quote--I want to get that put onto a bumper sticker or t-shirt. I've never seen it before!


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## lorijds (Jun 6, 2002)

Thanks for those pics!

I love being at a birth where the bag is intact until the babe emerges. Doesn't happen too often, usually the bag breaks about 1-2 contractions before the baby is born, if it hasn't broken already. But man, it is a sight, the bag crowning, the amniotic fluid and vernix swirling around in front of the baby's head. It is like looking at a little universe. Something new and expanding, know what I mean?

And those babies always have such round perfect heads.

I, too have heard that they won't drown; but I hadn't heard the one about them becoming prophets!

Lori


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## Keetsmama (Nov 5, 2002)

hmmm... I wanted to chime in about the "psychic" abilities.

A good older friend of mine talked about her grandmother being born in the caul, and she had psychic abilities and was a mid-wife. Apparently it runs in her family. But she had said something about being born in the caul meant you could see the other side.

Makes you wonder.


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## majazama (Aug 2, 2003)

I think that if my membranes were not ruptured, my baby would have been born "in the caul". I wonder how many women who have their membranes ruptured, would have had a baby born "in the caul"?

Now I know what that means! I was always wondering about gr8fulmom's sig line.


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## lorijds (Jun 6, 2002)

Quote:

_Originally posted by *Mamajaza*_
*I wonder how many women who have their membranes ruptured, would have had a baby born "in the caul"?

*
We very very rarely break a bag of waters. Maybe once this year we did, out of 120+ births.

We have about 2-5 babies a year whose bag of water doesn't break until the head emerges. Another 30% or more (probably more, I'm just guestimating) have the bag of water break about 2-4 contractions before the baby is born.

I would say that at least half of the bags of water break between transition and birth, when you don't mess with things. Maybe even a much greater percentage. I will have to pay attention to that for the next several months, and check more closely to see what the actual percentages are.

Lori


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