This amazing mum received the shock of her life when she delivered her baby, 11 weeks premature, in the passenger seat of her car.
Not only did her baby make an unexpected early entry into the world, it was born en caul, meaning in the amniotic sac.
What is the amniotic sac? It’s the fluid filled sac that surrounds and protects the baby during pregnancy. When a woman’s water breaks, it is the amniotic sac rupturing and fluid draining.
Babies born still in the sac is an extremely rare phenomenon, occurring in fewer than 1 in 80,000 births making Raelin Scurry’s story even more incredible.
Scurry wasn’t expecting to give birth until 18 October, so when her baby started to make a stir, she didn’t think she was going into labour. Instead, she though she was having Braxton Hicks contractions and decided to wait it out. But after 45 minutes of increasingly intense contractions she decided to go to hospital to check everything was OK.
“The contractions continued to get closer together and more intense and before I knew it I knew it was time to push,” Scully wrote in an Instagram post.
“I called 911 because I was so scared. They couldn’t understand me between the screams with contractions.”
“So I handed the phone to my fiance. I pulled my pants off and reached down, sure enough his head was right there,” said the mum from Pennsylvania.
“I pushed one time and my miracle baby was here. When I looked down I realised he was still completely wrapped in the amniotic sac.”
Scurry was advised to pull over and wait for emergency services to arrive, yet she knew she could get to a hospital quicker than they could get to her, so she told her fiance Ean to keep driving.
“I was so scared. At first the baby was still and all I could do was pray he would be OK,” she said.
“And then I rubbed his face with my thumb and he pulled his little hands and feet up to his face as if he understood my prayers and wanted to reassure us he was OK.”
When the family arrived at the hospital 7 minutes later, hospital staff rushed to the baby to open the sac, helping him to breathe.
Mum says baby Ean Jamal Vanstory Jr, known as EJ, is doing really well. The miracle bub is still in hospital but growing healthier every day.
“I know he’s going to be an awesome little man! He is truly a miracle baby. We are so blessed to be his parents,” said the proud mum.
