Caul

This article is about the membrane on newborns. For the headgear, see Caul (headgear). For the membrane around food animals' internal organs, see Caul fat.

A caul (Template:Lang-la, literally, "head helmet") is a thin, filmy membrane, the amniotic sac, that covers or partly covers the newborn mammal immediately after birth.

Obstetrics

To be "born in the caul" simply means a child is born with the amniotic sac or membranes still intact around the body. The sac consists of two adherent membranes (chorion and amnion) of fetal origin which separate the amniotic fluid and fetus from the maternal uterine wall. When a baby is born in the caul, the sac balloons out at birth, covering the baby's face and body as he or she emerges from the mother. The baby is in no danger of drowning, as it is still being fed nutrients and oxygen through the umbilical cord, and will not take it's first breath until the face emerges from the fluid contained in the caul. The caul is harmless and is easily removed by the doctor or midwife. A child born in this way is known as a caulbearer.

Even though harmless, many care providers rupture the membranes artificially if they don't rupture spontaneously during labor. In some circumstances this is done with the goal of speeding the delivery process, especially in cases of stalled labor. In other cases, the membranes are ruptured out of convenience, habit, or to avoid a sudden rupture that may soak the doctor.

The positive myths associated with being born in the caul have a physiological basis, in that the baby is not exposed to potential infection until the membranes rupture. Thus being born in the caul carries an almost zero risk of neonatal infection being transmitted during the birth. Especially in the past before antibiotics, this would have radically increased the likelihood of a newborn surviving the first month. As well, only well-nourished, non-smoking women can grow a membrane that is strong enough to withhold the incredible strength of uterine labor contractions. Again, the infants born to these healthy women would have a much better chance of survival.

According to healthlink.mcw.edu[1], Dwight Cruikshank MD, Professor and Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical College of Wisconsin states that being born with or in a caul is rare, probably occurring in fewer than 1 in 1000 births, and that he has seen fewer than 10 babies with a caul throughout his career. He says that it is usually present only in premature babies.

Midwives are more likely to allow babies to be born in the caul. Some midwives believe allowing children to be born in the caul has spiritual significance; others simply think nature should be allowed to unfold as necessary, especially as there may be some physiological benefit to being born this way. Kat Montgomery, a Registered Midwife in British Columbia, Canada, believes that being born in the caul is much more prevalent than most doctors know. In her career, she has seen at least 1 in 25 babies born in the caul. She notes, "The baby comes out looking for a moment as if it is wearing nylons over its head. And then the membranes spontaneously rupture, peeling down over the face. Parents seem to love the fact that their unique birth and special baby have been marked by this elevated significance."

Legend

In medieval times the appearance of a caul on a newborn baby was seen as a sign of good luck. It was considered an omen that the child was destined for greatness. Gathering the caul onto paper was considered an important tradition of childbirth: the midwife would rub a sheet of paper across the baby's head and face, pressing the material of the caul onto the paper. The caul would then be presented to the mother, to be kept as an heirloom. Some Early Modern European traditions linked being born with the caul to the ability to defend fertility and the harvest against the forces of evil, particularly witches and sorcerers.

Over the course of European history, a popular legend developed suggesting that possession of a baby's caul would give its bearer good luck and protect that person from death by drowning. Cauls were therefore highly prized by sailors. Medieval women often sold these cauls to sailors for large sums of money; a caul was regarded as a valuable talisman.

I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas. Whether sea-going people were short of money about that time, or were short of faith and preferred cork jackets, I don't know; all I know is, that there was but one solitary bidding, and that was from an attorney connected with the bill-broking business, who offered two pounds in cash, and the balance in sherry, but declined to be guaranteed from drowning on any higher bargain. Consequently the advertisement was withdrawn at a dead loss ... and ten years afterwards, the caul was put up in a raffle down in our part of the country, to fifty members at half-a-crown a head, the winner to spend five shillings. I was present myself, and I remember to have felt quite uncomfortable and confused, at a part of myself being disposed of in that way. The caul was won, I recollect, by an old lady with a hand-basket.... It is a fact which will be long remembered as remarkable down there, that she was never drowned, but died triumphantly in bed, at ninety-two. (Charles Dickens, David Copperfield)

In the film Oscar and Lucinda, Oscar is presented, by his estranged father, with the caul that was upon his head at birth. Oscar has a phobia of the ocean and of water in general, linked to the death of his mother when he was a child. He carries this caul with him until he dies, ironically, by drowning.

In the play Gypsy, Mama Rose tells Louise (Gypsy Rose Lee): "You were born with a caul. That means you got powers to read palms and tell fortunes - and wonderful things are gonna happen to you."

Other legends also developed. One popular legend went that a caulbearer would be able to see the future or have dreams that come to pass.

Negative associations with the birth caul are rare, but in several European countries a child being born with a caul was a sign that the child may become a vampire. As a preventative measure, the caul was removed before the child was able to eat any of it, and then it was destroyed.

The most common portent of good luck in recent centuries is that the baby born with a caul will never drown, the second most common myth is from Scotland and that believes the child will be fey, or psychic. Another British meaning is that the child will travel its entire life and never tire.

Icelandic culture states a child born with a caul was thought to be special, and this means the child will go through life with a faery companion, a shadow familiar known as the Fylgiar. The Fylgiar serves this person, and it is believed that the person also serves the Fylgiar while asleep or when making deliberate astral projections. This faery can be heard in the home of such a person banging and knocking around. Their most disturbing quality is that they warn their human companions of their own deaths, at which time they can be seen. The condition of the Fylgiar at the time of the sighting indicates what sort of death it will be. A mauled faery means a nasty, painful death, while a peaceful one means a calm, painless death. The Fylgiar continues to live on after the human familiar dies, but it is believed that it accompanies its person to Valhallah, the Nordic Land of the Dead, where it remains until the human soul is comfortable and accepting of his or her demise.

Also an important myth hails from ancient Egypt, and that story claims the newborn baby is destined for the cult of Isis, again a mystically inclined fate.

Also if twins are both born with cauls it meant that they are marked by an angel and their souls are shielded.

Notable people and fictional characters "born in the caul"

• King Zog of Albania
• James Gordon Farrell, Irish author
• Liberace - pianist, entertainer and performer
• Sigmund Freud
• Sergei Pankejeff, Freud's Wolf-Man
• Twin boys both named Bruno Frye from Dean Koontz's Whispers
• Danny from Stephen King's The Shining
• David Copperfield from Charles Dickens' David Copperfield
• Francie Nolan from Betty Smith's A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
• Alvin Junior from Orson Scott Card's "The Tales of Alvin Maker" series
• The poet George Gordon, Lord Byron
• Taliesin, from Taliesin, Stephen R. Lawhead's first book of the Pendragon Cycle
• Doodle, from "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Milkman from Song of Solomon
• Musician Ian McKaye
• Catcher in the Rye character Holden Caulfield got his name from the word caul, "hold on caul", symbolic of his desire to hold on to his childhood
• Twin Niles Perry from The Other by Tom Tryon.
• Edwin Booth
• Vee Talbott from Tennessee Williams' "Orpheus Descending" was born in the caul for which she holds responsible for her visions
• Marie Laveau, New Orleans Voodooienne, from [VooDoo Dreams a novel of Marie Laveau] by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Woodworking

A caul is a curved batten, usually used in pairs for applying even pressure across wide workpieces.

External links

• "Caul, or Face Veil, Occasionally Present at Birth"
• Folklore of the Isle of Man, Ch. 8