Two women have staged a fake 'birth' where a doll emerges from a 'womb'

Some women collect the dolls for fun and dress them in different outfits

They are often bought by women who have lost children, to help with their grief

that look just like newborn children

The rise of birth photography is well known, but now two women have taken things one step further - by 'live-birthing' a super-realistic baby doll in front of a crowd of onlookers at a show.

The baby is a reborn doll - reborns are extremely realistic models of newborns that are usually carefully handmade.

The dolls have a dedicated following among a group of women who collect them and swap tips online.

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The 'birth' involved the women cutting open an 'amniotic sac' to reveal a baby doll

The 'birth' involved the women cutting open an 'amniotic sac' to reveal a baby doll

Reborn dolls (above) are lifelike dolls made from vinyl, often bought by women who have lost children

Women often care for the dolls as if they were real, dressing them, pretending to feed them, and taking them out of the house on errands.

Now it appears that two members of the reborn community have added an additional step to the process - by giving a doll a real caesarean 'birth'.

In a video filmed at the Rose Doll Show in the United States, two women show how they perform a fake caesarean section on a doll.

One of the women, Julie Molloy, is an artist who makes incredibly realistic reborn dolls and sells them online at her Birds and Bees Nursery.

Dressed in medical scrubs and with gloves on, Ms Molloy and an acquaintance present a reborn doll still in the 'womb'.

The baby in question appears to be in it's own 'amniotic sac', which is laid in a hospital-style crib. Ms Molloy and her assistant, who is not named, then use scissors to cut open the sac and give 'birth' to the child.

In a video filmed at a doll show in America, one reborn doll is cut out of its 'amniotic sac' in front of an audience (pictured)

The child then emerges from the 'sac' and is presented to people watching (pictured)

'We're going to need to open the womb,' Ms Molloy explains as she cuts the sac.

Another woman cooes, 'Aw, there's the baby,' as it can be seen emerging into the world.

Ms Molloy announces 'It's a boy!' before the baby is then presented to the crowd, before being swaddled in blankets and handed to one of the women to cuddle.

Dolls still in a sac (pictured) can be sold for anywhere between $300-1,000

Ms Molloy started making dolls when she was only 16, and uses clay to create them.

'It takes many hours of sculpting by hand to recreate a precious bundle of joy,' she explains on her website. 'Going through all the labor involved, I deliver to you the most realistic Baby Dolls ever created.'

On the internet, reborn dolls can be purchased either in or out of a 'womb', and retail from $200-$1,000 depending on the artist and time spent crafting it.

Kidspot reported that one online seller was offering a doll in a sac, so the purchaser could deliver it themselves.

Reborn dolls are handmade and can look very lifelike

'Reborn baby in the womb will be a surprise kit that I pick. Baby will be Caucasian (I haven’t mastered the technique of different races). You can choose gender, if you wish,' the seller wrote.

Some women use reborn dolls to help them with the grief of losing a child, while others simply enjoy collecting them.

One of the largest Facebook fan pages for the dolls has more than 16,000 likes, showing how many people are part of the community.