Baby Born In Amniotic Sac At Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre

Silas Johnson was a rare sight for doctors when he was born prematurely at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The boy was born to mother Chelsea Philips via C-section three months early, on Dec. 6, 2014, and he arrived "en caul," or with his amniotic sac fully intact, at the facility's Maxine Dunitz Children's Health Center, CBS Los Angeles reported earlier this month.

Neonatologist William Binder was so astonished by the birth he snapped a photo of it on his cellphone.

"It really felt like a moment of awe," he told CBS. "This was really a moment that will stick in my memory for some time."

Silas' grandmother showed the photo to Chelsea, who later said, "oh my gosh, Silas, you're a special little baby!"

A baby born in its amniotic sac is rare; it only happens once every 80,000 births, Cedars-Sinai wrote on its Facebook page.

The sac is a pack of fluid where the baby grows inside its mother before it's born, explains the U.K.'s National Health Service. That fluid, which is mostly water, protects the baby from being injured while in the womb and helps it swallow and breathe. It forms shortly after a mother conceives her child.

When the sac tears, it releases the fluids; this is what happens when a mother's water breaks.

Rare though his birth was, Silas is now doing well and he's expected to head home from the hospital soon, CNN said.

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