'En Caul' babies

Last month one extra special birth base hypnobaby boy was born en caul! How magic is that!

Did you know that happens to only 1 in 80,000 babies? En caul births (where baby is born still within the amniotic sac) are also known as ‘mermaid births’, or ‘veiled births’ and are said to be incredibly lucky babies!

How can this incredible phenomenon happen? During pregnancy your baby is protected by the amniotic sac (which has tow layers of membranes & filled with amniotic fluid). Usually, at some point during labour the amniotic sac will break (i.e. when your ‘waters’ break). But sometimes, this doesn’t happen and bay can be born totally en caul (within the inner layer of membrane) or partially covered by the membrane.

Why are en caul babies special?

Across many cultures, en caul births are attributed with luck, good fortune, with the baby set to achieve greatness, or have magical or spiritual abilities.

Historically, the ‘caul’ the amniotic sac was sometimes stolen by midwives or sold by families, as a token of protection! Sailors would buy birth cauls as they believed it would make them immune from drowning. Lawyers would buy cauls as a good luck token to help them win their court cases, and coal miners would carry cauls with them to ward off fires and explosion.

Powdered caul would also be used in ‘love potions’, and in some countries used in medicine to cure malaria!

Cauls have also been said within Early Modern European traditions to defend fertility , and protect the harvest against ‘forces of evil’, particularly witches and sorcerers.

In Dalmatia, placing a caul under a dying person's bed was believed to make one's passing easier.

Have you heard any other theories about en caul births? I’d love to hear them!

Incredible photograph by: @kimberlyephotographymt