True Medical Rarity: Baby Born Inside Amniotic Sac.Newser) – Silas Johnson recently entered the world through emergency cesarean section at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, but what makes his case truly extraordinary is that he was born at 26 weeks with his amniotic sac still perfectly intact around him, holding the placenta and umbilical cord as well, reports KHON2. “It was a moment that really did, even though it’s a cliche, [make us catch] our breath,” says neonatologist William Binder. “It really felt like a moment of awe.” Mom Chelsea Philips had no idea until her mom showed her a picture later. “He was kind of in a fetal position and you could see like his arms and his legs curled up,” she says. “It was actually really cool to see, and when I heard that was actually really rare, I was like, oh my gosh, you’re a special little baby.”
In fact, it’s in just 1 in 80,000 births or so that the thin, tough membrane still covers part of a newborn’s body, and it’s typically the head, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. But being born “en caul,” as it’s called, where the entire body is still surrounded by the sac (with the placenta providing oxygen), is a true medical rarity most OB-GYNs will never see. The doctor “was in awe when the baby just popped out completely enclosed,” per a Cedars-Sinai statement. “They had just a short amount of time to get the baby out of the sac and … he had to puncture the sac with his fingers.” Silas, now nearly 3 months old, is healthy and expected to leave the hospital around his due date next month. (One girl was born in China last year at 23 weeks.)
Here I am, beneath your heart,
My heart beating in happy harmony,
As my frame perceives
The gentle throbbing within your breast,
Serene.I began in secret and in darkness,
A mystery, even to myself.
Day by day, nature shapes my clay,
As you await the blessed dawn of my birth day.What I know, I know by existence.
I am now all trust,
Simply growing,
Simply becoming who I am.Comfort, you give comfort.
Love, you are all I know of love.
As you wait for me, my mother,
The eyes of my soul are wide open.
I behold you, smiling upon me.Expectant, vigilant and gleeful,
Mother of my moments,
You cradle me.
You are my home of sweet delight.© 2011 Joann Nelander
Flowers in the rain
Petals open to sustain
Life that is and is to be
Crouched in hidden expectancy
Bees by colors in delight,
Arrested, nay, beguiled, alight.
To sip and gather on furry feet
Nectar and pollen of life so sweet.
Flower to flower in drunken run
Dance the mystery now begun.
by Joann Nelander
* “A hapless male bee, blind drunk with the flower’s overpowering pheromones, might well mistake a toadstool for a suitable mate” a tidbit from Wikipedia
This year my memories come in watercolor:
A million miracles ride the deep,
And play beneath the surface
Of Your fury,
In fall of water,
Rounding o’er the rocks,
In rush and billows,
Froth and foam.
Swift river carry me
And write on my memory.
Though seated on the bank,
I sail in heart,
And hurry,
In your wake
Finding joy as a petal,
Skirting the obscured,
Dancing o’er temptation,
In an act of will,
To follow in Your stride,
O Master of the deep.
The glint of sun
In steady flash
To gild rocky edges
As You do my soul.
The wash of swift current,
Pouring joy as palpable
As bird song,
Swimming the swollen crowns,
Like ribbons of life,
Skimming hidden cliffs,
Caring and carrying me along.
Their path and destiny one,
In faith’s repose.
Let not the world
Still or interfere
To make me tarry,
When You bid me come,
Contemplate my end,
And sweet beginning.
One with Providence’s
Plan,
I fear not Thy wild ride.
A million miracles cry out to me
From the beauty
Of depth and mystery.
I am lost in Your Presence.
There You are
Smiling back at me.
I simply smile and gaze.
I am nothing and no one,
Yet You whisper,
In You and Yours,
I am more.
You sing to my soul,
And tell me beauty tales.
Of gaining all I leave behind
In Love’s pursuit.
Grace creates a place for me.After the mind of God.
I surpass the wonders I behold.
Hold me in this instant,
To capture Paradise
For the journey onward,
Singularly one with everything,
And bound to all,
And none,
Save You.
©2013 Joann Nelander
Immaculata-Patroness
Joann Nelander Studio 