The photo of a newborn baby boy still in the amniotic sac after being born in the car has gone viral. The amazing first photograph of baby E.J. was shared on Instagram by his mother, and has thousands of likes, proving that we are all fascinated with life inside the womb – a life we have all lived, forgotten, and wish to understand more about.
When Raelin Scurry first felt contractions, she didn’t think much about them. Her baby wasn’t due to be born for another 11 weeks — but the pain continued to escalate and the contractions became more frequent.
“I was only 29 weeks and 4 days, so I just figured they were Braxton hicks and decided to wait it out,” she explained on Instagram. “After about 45 minutes of consistent contractions that were increasing in intensity, I decided I should probably go in.”
She finally woke her boyfriend, Ean Vanstory, and told him they needed to get to the hospital. They first had to make a stop to drop their daughter off before continuing their hurried drive.
“I was just thinking, ‘We’ve got to get to the hospital right now.’ I was just driving around people and running lights,” Vanstory told CBS Pittsburgh.
Sensing that the baby was not going to wait until they arrived at the hospital, Scurry, who works in medical research, dialed 911 for help.
“They couldn’t understand me between the screams with contractions. So I handed the phone to my fiance. I pulled my pants off and reached down, sure enough his head was right there. I pushed one time and my miracle baby was here,” she wrote.
Her baby, however, had another surprise in store for his parents: he was still the amniotic sac – a rare occurrence that happens in one of 80,000 births. Scurry became concerned that her baby was being so still inside the sac, so she took action.
“I rubbed his face with my thumb, and he pulled his little hands and feet up to his face as if he understood my prayers and wanted to reassure us he was okay,” she wrote.
Scurry gently and cautiously held her son in the sac until they arrived at the hospital where the medical team broke the sac and E.J. let out his first cry. He weighed just three pounds and one ounce.
It has been just over a month since little E.J. made his astonishing entrance into the world, and his big sister said she can’t wait to bring him home. While he still needs oxygen to help his little lungs, he is doing better than doctors expected. His parents expect he will be able to go home soon.
