en caul
See also: en-caul
English
Alternative forms
Adjective
- Of a birth: with the baby still inside an intact amniotic sac.
- en caul birth
- 2007, Ashley S. Roman, Martin L. Pernoll, “Late Pregnancy Complications”, in Alan H. DeCherney, Lauren Nathan, T. Murphy Goodwin, Neri Laufer, Current Diagnosis & Treatment Obstetrics & Gynecology (Lange Current Series), 10th edition, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, section III (Pregnancy at Risk), page 278, column 2:
- Trauma to the newborn may be minimized by en caul delivery.
- 2016, Jennifer Manuel, chapter 1, in The Heaviness of Things That Float, Madeira Park, B.C.: Douglas & McIntyre, →ISBN, page 15:
- En caul births were rare, and I’d only ever seen pictures in clinical books.
- 2021, Kimberly C. Harper, “Black Midwives and Reclaiming Choice”, in The Ethos of Black Motherhood in America: Only White Women Get Pregnant (Lexington Studies in Health Communication), Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, →ISBN, pages 87–88:
- An en caul birth required special attention and slave holders’ physicians did not understand the importance of the caul or even disposing of the placenta appropriately, which also carried special significance in African culture.
Adverb
- Of a birth: with the baby still inside an intact amniotic sac.
- born en caul
- 2003, Catherine Amador-Locher, “In Her Own Time”, in Sheri L. Menelli, Journey into Motherhood: Inspirational Stories of Natural Birth, Carlsbad, Calif.: White Heart Publishing, published 2005, →ISBN, page 28:
- The membrane from the water sac was still covering her body; she was born en caul.
- 2011, Melissa Coleman, “Water”, in This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone, New York, N.Y.: Harper, →ISBN, page 126:
- Due to the rarity and strange appearance of the sac, legends have built up over the centuries, the most common being that a baby born en caul will never drown.
- 2015, L[aurie] K[ellogg] McCall, “Tobias”, in Sway of the Siren, May River Press, LLC, →ISBN, page 51:
- She told me once that she was born en caul, which meant when she came into this world, she was still hangin’ out inside the amniotic sac.
- 2021, Kimberly C. Harper, “Black Midwives and Reclaiming Choice”, in The Ethos of Black Motherhood in America: Only White Women Get Pregnant (Lexington Studies in Health Communication), Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 87:
- For example, African tradition believed that children born en caul (fully enclosed in the amniotic sac) were gifted with second sight into the spiritual world.