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Positive birth story: baby born en caul! (Born completely inside the amniotic sac!)

My labor has been on my mind for weeks and I think it’s time to put my story out there! For context I was induced with my first as well and she was born at 41+6 after 32 hours of labor.

Baby #2 I was 41+3 days on August 12th. We went in for our scheduled induction at 8:00pm. With my first when I went in to be induced I was 2-3 cm dilated but my cervix was still hard so I had to do cytotec overnight before we got to pitocin. This time around I was 2-3 cm dilated but my cervix was very soft so they said we could start pitocin right away. Pitocin started at 9pm. The midwife mentioned the possibility of breaking my water eventually and I told her I wasn’t against it but I’d like to wait since my water broke with my daughter at 6cm on its own and it probably will go similarly this time (lol). I called my doula and let her know we were starting and that she could make her way over. The contractions were very mild so we just hung out and rested until my doula came at 11:00pm. She had me do a few positions on the peanut ball and just kept me moving for a while with periods of resting. I asked to be checked around 3am, the contractions were stronger at this point but still totally manageable. I was 4 cm, 50% effaced -2 station. She mentioned again about breaking my water but she felt comfortable letting me continue to labor since I was making progress.

I told my doula then “ok put me in whatever position that’s gonna make this labor amp up” and she delivered 😂 she put me on the peanut ball in the flying cowgirl position (google it, it’s hilarious) and we all agreed to try and get some sleep for 45 minutes and then switch sides. My husband and doula passed out immediately and I proceeded to have 30 minutes of the most intense contractions ever. It’s like I immediately went from active labor to transition. I didn’t even make it past 30 minutes because the nurse came back in to do vitals and I immediately was like “I need to get out of this bed!”

At like 5am the pressure was amping up and super intense and it had really sharp pain along with it and I was not coping well anymore (a nice way to say screaming through every contraction) so I asked for the epidural. I experienced something similar with my first labor and at that point with my first I was only 4cm so in my head I was like ok it’s only been 2 hours so we’re probably around that same point, maybe a 5 or a 6 if I’m lucky. I got the epidural at 6am and she checked me at 6:20 and she said I was 8cm, 80%, -1, with a bulging bag of water. I was so shocked, I didn’t think I was already that far along! She mentioned again about breaking my water but it was more just in passing and she was more under the impression now that it was going to break any minute and I was definitely progressing so we just left it alone. After a few minutes I realized that I still had a lot of feeling below the waist and I could still completely move my legs. I still had to breathe through every contraction and the pressure was still crazy but slightly less sharp than it was before. The anesthesiologist came to assess and was basically like yeah this happens sometimes. Great lol.

We settled in and I tried to relax for a bit after a long night of laboring but as soon as I relaxed I realized that my body was actually bearing down through each contraction. It’s such a weird sensation because my body was doing it totally on its own I couldn’t control it at all! I told my doula and she told the nurse and I was a little concerned because I was only 8cm and I didn’t want to push too early and have a cervical tear. There was a shift change around that same time so I got a new midwife who was just so sweet and gentle and I asked her to check me again (7:40am) and she said “well it looks like you’re complete!” Again I was totally shocked! I was expecting hours of labor and everything just seemed to be going so fast. I was laying on my side with the peanut ball at this point because being on my back made the pressure so bad again. With my first I was 10cm for about an hour before they had me start pushing and then pushing lasted about 45 minutes. This time right after she checked me she was like “alright just listen to your body and see what your body is wanting to do, no pressure!” meanwhile in the background they’re rushing in with the delivery cart and she’s putting on her delivery scrubs and I can’t help but laugh looking back on that because she was trying to be so casual meanwhile behind the scenes it was like all hands on deck!

I was still bearing down with every contraction and could feel like 75% of it even with the epidural. The midwife laid out this huge tarp because she was expecting my water to break any second in like a huge gush. Suddenly I had the strangest sensation of something moving down the birth canal (It felt almost like if you squeezed a water balloon) and I said “I feel something coming out!” And my midwife looked and she said “well it looks like your amniotic sac has started to come out!” Then another contraction and she said “I can see hair floating in the water!” At that point all the nurses were crowding around to get a look because it’s not something you see every day! Then another couple of contractions and her head was starting to come and the ring of fire was so intense, afterwards I was like wow this is the most appropriately named thing ever because it really is a ring of fire! Her head was like halfway out and I still hadn’t pushed at all, just letting my body bear down during the contractions, but the midwife said if I gave another little push I could get the head out and get some relief from the ring of fire so I gave one push and her head was finally all the way out. She mentioned she saw a loose cord around her neck/shoulder but she couldn’t unravel her because she was still in the water. The next contraction had the shoulders born and then as the rest of her came out the sac finally broke and the water went everywhere! The midwife took the caul off of her and unraveled her from her cord then said reach down and grab your baby. I reached down and pulled her up onto my chest and her eyes were wide open and she was holding her head up like “what the heck was that!” I was filled with so much happiness I can’t even tell you, the picture my doula took of this moment is so beautiful I tear up every time I look at it.

I had another second degree tear, in the same spot as my last tear. While she stitched me up my midwife told me about the lore surrounding en caul babies (another thing that’s worth a google!) and she actually saved a piece of the caul to dry out and take home with me. I feel so grateful to have had such an empowering and magical birth for my last baby, especially after having such a long and difficult labor with my first. The whole process has felt so healing for me.

So that’s my story! 11 hours of labor, one active push, and a beautiful, healthy baby girl 💕

If you’ve had an en caul birth I would love to hear your story as well! I can’t stop thinking about it!