This is the incredibly rare moment a baby boy was born inside his amniotic sac during an emergency caesarean.
Businesswoman Janaina Fernandes Costa, 34, gave birth to son Lucas Fernandes de TRANSEX LISBOA Costa at the Hospital Ana Costa, in the south-eastern Brazilian state of Sao Paulo.
Footage shows baby Lucas still inside his amniotic sac after the mother-of-three underwent the emergency procedure because of gestational hypertension — high blood pressure during pregnancy.
Baby Lucas is born inside his amniotic sac during the emergency caesarean at the Hospital Ana Costas in Brazil (left). Doctors film the incredibly rare moment as they lift the baby out of his mother (right)
Surgeons then cut open the fluid-filled sac as tiny hands and feet can be seen wriggling inside.
One doctor, Guilherme Pereira Martins, who recorded the moment, claimed that a baby born inside its amniotic sac is rare and occurs once in every 80,000 natural births.
However during a caesarean, the chance depends on the dexterity and patience of the surgeon.
Dr Martins added: ‘As this is a manoeuvre of a certain technical difficulty and does not pose any risk to the baby, the hospital’s resident doctor and I opted to try to do the fetal extraction without breaking the amniotic membranes — and we did it.’
Doctors prepare to cut open the amniotic sac (left). Baby Lucas wriggles free after surgeons burst the fluid-filled sac (right)
Ms Costa said: ‘At the time I couldn’t see anything.I only noticed the movements and heard the comments.
‘I saw how animated the nurses and doctors were, as they were recording and taking photos.
She added: ‘After the effects of the anaesthetic passed, the obstetrician explained everything to me.
‘I only saw he was born in the sac on the video. I thought it was the most beautiful thing and I was emotional.’
Doctor Martins added that mother and son were doing well at home and Lucas has joined his two older sisters.
The amniotic sac is a bag of fluid inside a woman’s uterus where the unborn baby floats and moves.
The fluid helps to cushion the baby and is made up of predominantly water which starts to fill within days of conception.