Aimee Vick, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, welcomed her “mermaid baby” on New Year’s Day in a rare and remarkable birth. Her daughter, Aurora, was born still inside her amniotic sac, a phenomenon known as an en caul birth, which is also referred to as a veiled or mermaid delivery.
En caul births are extremely rare, occurring in fewer than one in 80,000 deliveries.
Aimee, a mother of three, explained that no one realized her waters hadn’t broken, as the birth progressed quickly. “It was inspiring,” she said. “It feels like she is very special now. I knew my waters hadn’t broken, but they thought they would when I got in the birthing pool. The birth happened so fast that they never had the chance to check me.”
Aurora, who weighed 7 pounds at birth, was named after the aurora lights that were visible at the time of her birth. “We had the name for a while, and it felt fitting with what was happening around us,” Aimee said.
Aimee had planned a C-section after having late pregnancies with her first two children and described Aurora’s pregnancy as challenging. On New Year’s Day, she went in for a pre-op appointment but woke up feeling unwell. After several blood tests and a few moments of dizziness, the doctors checked her over.
“I didn’t know how an emergency C-section worked or if I would need one right away,” she said. “It was busy when I arrived, and my contractions started picking up speed. I decided to go for a natural birth.”
Aimee’s delivery happened quickly. “It was very painful, and not what I was prepared for,” she said. “I think it was the most painful birth I’ve had because it happened so fast.”
Within hours of arriving at the hospital, Aimee was in the birthing pool. Aurora was born in her amniotic sac, and the midwife had to carefully break it before handing her to Aimee. “It was pretty amazing,” Aimee added.
Aurora was born a few days early, but she was healthy and weighed 7 pounds at birth.
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