NEW YORK: In a rare medical occurrence, doctors in the US have delivered a premature baby still enclosed in amniotic sac through Caesarean section.
The baby, Silas, born prematurely at just 26 weeks, was still inside the fluid bag when he was delivered 10 weeks go at California's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Doctors have called the birth a medical rarity. Such births usually occur about once out of every 80,000 deliveries, they said, according to 'New York Daily News'.
"It really felt like a moment of awe," neonatologist William Binder, who delivered the infant at the West Hollywood hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit told 'KCBS-TV'.
Until the sac was broken, the baby was still getting oxygen through the placenta.
Doctors then cut away the sac so the infant could start breathing on his own.
Amniotic fluid is usually dispelled when a mother's "water" breaks and is usually a sign to head for the hospital.
Doctors said the baby is doing well and should be headed home in less than a month.