BABY BORN WITH INTACT AMNIOTIC SAC

Dr. William Binder/Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Little Silas Johnson was delivered by Cesarean section three months early at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, still shrouded in the sac of amniotic fluid. Neonatologist William Binder snapped a picture of the unusual sight with his cellphone, then opened the sac so the baby could begin breathing.

The photograph shows the baby just seconds old. Until the bag was broken, the baby was still getting oxygen through the placenta.

“It felt like slow-motion but really realistically probably about 10 seconds that we had to sort of quickly pause and be able to do this, because at the same time, we want to get the baby out of that sac, start helping the baby to begin breathing,” the doctor said.

The photo is a rare opportunity to see what a six-month pregnancy really looks like. And from the baby’s point of view, the trauma of birth didn’t happen until he was outside his mother. Despite his prematurity, Silas went home from the hospital—healthy—10 weeks after his birth.