Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Video Credit: AsiaWire / Dr Pan Mian

This footage shows a late preterm baby boy delivered by emergency C-section while still floating peacefully in his amniotic sac.

The newborn dubbed ‘Bubble Boy’ was delivered at 36 weeks and did not breathe on his own for further two minutes before medics cut him out of his protective sac.

Obstetrician Pan Mian revealed that the boy was born at the Fujian Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province in East China, on 16th July.

His mum, 36, had been the recipient of a successful IVF treatment after having failed to conceive during her eight-year marriage.

However, just weeks before her due date she began complaining of abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding.

Doctor Pan, who is head obstetrician at the facility, found that the foetus was in breech position – he would be born bottom first instead of head first – and also had a condition known as a velamentous cord insertion, a condition where the umbilical cord does not attach in the centre of the placenta, instead travelling through the membrane, potentially causing complications including rupturing the cord’s blood vessels.

The medic decided to deliver the boy ‘en caul’ – still inside the amniotic sac – in an emergency late-preterm caesarean.

Incredible footage from the procedure shows the boy being removed from his mother’s womb while still in his amniotic membrane.

He was born at a healthy 2.5 kilogrammes (5.5 lbs).

Doctor Pan explained: “Newborns usually cry shortly after being born as their respiratory system is introduced to the new surroundings.

“But when this boy was born, still in his amniotic sac, it was as if he were still in his mum’s womb.

“It was not until doctors opened the membrane and cleared the amniotic fluid from his respiratory system that he began to cry – a full two minutes later than normal babies.”

Doctor Pan added: “We opted for this procedure because preterm babies are weaker than full-term babies.

“As premature births are among the main reasons for infant mortality, an en caul birth allows the newborn to be delivered inside the same protective membrane.

“This reduces moisture loss on the skin, avoids rapid temperature loss after a preterm birth, and decreases the risk of the infant being harmed during a C-section.

“Even if an en caul delivery were unsuccessful, the baby could then be delivered via a traditional C-section, so it’s just one more option to have.”

According to reports, the boy was the first child on record to be born en caul in the city of Fuzhou, after medics studied how to carry out the procedure and put their new skills to good use when the case called for it.

In the three months that followed, the hospital delivered 10 other children using the same procedure.

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