You've Probably Never Seen a Baby Born Inside Its Amniotic Sac Before — and It's Breathtaking

When a baby is born, it's often described as "the miracle of life." But it's fair to say that some births are a little more miraculous than others.

Photographer Leilani Rogers captured one such moment when she was shooting a home birth for a woman having twins. As she was snapping away, she didn't even notice that one of them came out "en caul," which meant it was born entirely inside its amniotic sac.

"There was a good size birth team, it was dark, the room was small, but I didn't hesitate or take any time to worry about all that. I just went to work . . . and didn't realize what I'd captured until after the birth," Rogers, who is based in Austin, TX, told POPSUGAR of the once-in-a-lifetime experience. "There was no time to see the amniotic sac with my own eyes."

Still, she managed to unknowingly capture two remarkable photos of the second twin, still in the sac, which the midwife typically breaks shortly after birth. ("In this case, she had to tear it with her hands, it was so strong," Rogers recalled.)

If you'd never known such a scenario could exist, you aren't alone. They occur in fewer than one in 80,000 births. Normally, during delivery, the amniotic sac breaks and fluid rushes out — typically known as when one's water breaks. But in these rare instances, the sac, also known as the caul, can balloon out while remaining attached to the infant — usually around its head and face — or in this instance, the entire body.

Typically harmless and most often occurring in premature births, en-caul deliveries have historically been seen as good luck.

Read on to see this en-caul birth at each breathtaking stage.