A Youtuber from Florida wanted to film her water-birth for her channel when she captured something completely unexpected. It’s something that is rare to even happen during a birth, let alone capturing it on camera!
Starting Youtube
Amber Nicole was the mother of two young boys and wife to a military man. She was basically living the All-American dream! At the time she got pregnant, Amber had the idea of creating a Youtube channel to showcase her experiences. She loved watching other creators film their families and talk about the fun times and struggles! Amber especially wanted to reach other military mothers. It was just something for fun, she had no idea what this channel would really turn into.
Amber and Kyle
In high school, Amber began dating her husband, Kyle. They were only at 16, then got married at 20, and jump-started their life together with their careers. Kyle began work in the Air Force. The couple had to move down to Florida from their hometown in Mississippi with their new baby, and first child. Things got interesting when Kyle had to move the family to Germany. In that time, they welcomed their second child into the world!
One Last Addition
Once the growing family landed back in Florida, the couple decided that they wanted one more baby. They were finally back in the states and surrounded by their longtime friends and family once again. They decided that it just felt right to have one more baby.
Quick Transition!
Soon after the decision to have another baby, Amber began vlogging. She wanted this to be a video diary of her full pregnancy from beginning to end. After only one try, she was able to announce on April 2nd, 2012 that she was pregnancy again! She talked about telling her husband in a really adorable way. They went to their favorite place to eat, a local steakhouse. Kyle went off about other celebrations they had there, and she told him about one more! He was confused but eventually caught on that they were having another baby.
Exciting News
After gaining some momentum in the pregnancy, she was ready to announce the due date to her small amount of Youtube followers. “According to Baby Center, I am due around December 3rd,” she announced. “This is really cute. Since it will be our last baby, it’ll be like our little Christmas surprised. We’re not going to find out the sex of the baby so it will really be a surprise!” With ups come downs, and Amber shared one particularly scary experience.
Scary Update
After a couple weeks of radio silence, Amber posted a scary announcement on her channel. She detailed the heavy bleeding she was experiencing in her second trimester. They were terrified. After going to the doctor fearing the worst, the baby was revealed to be fine and in no stress, so they just had to wait it out. Amber and Kyle’s worries for calmed… For now.
Labor!
On the morning of December 20th, Amber began to feel slight contraction pain. Since this was her third pregnancy, she could tell that these contractions were not super impeding. Amber even ended up taking her son to his Christmas party at school! The contractions did not slow down, and by morning, they had gotten much worse. She knew it was time to call her doula for the home birth.
Beginning Her Last Home Birth
The doula arrived and set up the birthing pool. Her contractions were at their most intense and getting closer together. She sat in the pool to wait it out. Kyle even sat in there with her, coaxing her through the pain. Everything was going smoothly so far.
Smooth Sailing
“I had [the music] playing and I closed my eyes and I went away – I was in another world during that whole time in the pool. My happy spot was laying on a beach; that’s what I had pictured the entire time. I was on a beach in Hawaii, there were seagulls flying in the air,” Amber recalled in her birth story vlog.
Keeping It Light
Despite the intense pains of labor, Amber was still cracking jokes and being her usual, goofy self. In her birth video, you can hear her joke, “You’re in the way of the camera!” as her mother walks in front of the shot. That’s the kind of environment that all women should want for their birth!
Something Is… Different
Kyle noticed a discoloration in the water. The labor was moving farther along than they thought, and delivery was much sooner than they thought. When Amber reached down to feel how far along she was in the delivery stage, she felt something extremely bizarre. She described it as cushion-like… Not the way a baby’s head should feel at all.
Things Moved Quickly
Before Amber could even announce this feeling, she described the next few moments with extreme detail. She recalls feeling the crippling contractions that indicated that the baby was really on its way, and not soon after that, she felt the “ring of fire” that many mothers recall feeling. Then, the baby “shot out” in a quick and painless delivery.
Checking Out The Baby
Amber was soon overwhelmed with the thought of what the sex was! She and Kyle both agreed that they didn’t want to know the sex until the baby was born. Now, it was time to find out! Despite the fact that Amber felt the ‘rubber balloon’ around the head, she temporarily forgot about it and picked up her baby.
It’s A Girl!
After having two boys, Amber and Kyle was ecstatic to find out that it was a girl. “I’ll never forget this moment,” Amber said in her vlog. “[The midwife] asked, ‘What did you have?’ I remember moving the umbilical cord from between the legs. My husband and I looked at each other and I looked at the midwife. The look on her face said, ‘You’re not crazy, you can say it.’ I said, ‘It’s a girl!’ and started bawling.”
After All This Time
Amber was so positive that she was carrying a boy that she began to cry at the fact that she finally had a girl! “I braced myself for being the mom of three boys. His name was going to be Owen.” As the new addition relaxed into the new family, the mother remembered the bizarre part of her birth that left her with many questions.
Something In The Water…
The family is still in the pool cradling their new baby girl, now named Riley, when the midwife went to cut the umbilical cord. As she looked into the water and searched for it, she saw something extremely bizarre that she pulled out of the pool.
What Is This?
“The midwife picked something out of the water,” Amber said on her vlog. “She said, ‘Look what came out with your baby.’ It was the amniotic sac.” This is the sac that people talk about when they say that their ‘water’ broke. In a bizarre twist of events, this sac never actually broke. Ever.
An En Caul Birth
As a baby grows in the womb, the amniotic sac envelopes them. It’s filled with fluid that is a protective barrier around the baby. Once labor begins, the sac bursts from the baby being moved through the womb via contractions. In Amber’s case, that never happened. The sac was punctured and leaked, but stayed fully in tact. It is extremely rare to have this happen.
How Rare Is This Type of Birth?
Since Riley was born in the amniotic sac, which made Amber’s birth so painless, it ended up falling off in the water. This birth only has a one in 80,000 chance of happening. Not only is this an extremely rare type of birth that they caught on camera, but it’s also a sign of good luck! Even more bizarre, these rare en caul births usually happen with premature babies. Amber was a couple weeks past her due date, which made this super unlikely!
Fun Facts About En Caul Births
Although these types of births are extremely rare, some very famous names have been reported to be born this way. Charlemagne, Liberace, and Sigmund Freud were all reportedly born en caul.
Vlogging Family
After this incredible birth went viral, many people were captured by Amber’s adorable family and wanted to see more. After Riley was born, they continued to vlog their daily lives with cute family antics and relatable issues. Since she is an Air Force wife, she has a lot of relatable stories to tell fellow mothers who find themselves in similar situations.
Where Are They Now?
Amber took a small break from Youtube after the family moved to Texas, but has since updated with a “First Year In Texas” video. Riley is now five years old and is super adorable!