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Forceps delivery
A delivery in which forceps are used to help assist the baby from the birth canal. Forceps are a two-bladed instrument that could be compared to a pair of kitchen tongs in design. Forceps have the additional feature that the two blades are easily taken apart to facilitate placement on the baby within the birth canal. After placing the two blades on the baby's head, the doctor reconnects the two blades and then uses the forceps to apply traction to the infant, assisting delivery. The forceps are not sharp, but they firmly grasp the baby's head. Forceps may be used for several different reasons, to shorten the second stage of labor, end an abnormally long second stage, when the fetal heart rate suggests problems, when the mother suffers from cardiac disease, or whenever the health of the mother and baby are declining and a speedy delivery is required. Although once used often, they are almost never used now.
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