Second stage labor assist apparatus and method
A novel method of second stage labor assistance at least includes: providing a flexible cord member at least having at a first end, a first securing article, and at least having at a second end, a second securing article; coupling the first securing article to at least one upper extremity of an expectant mother; coupling the second securing article to at least one upper extremity of a person assisting (“assistant”) the expectant mother with child birth, the assistant at least serving as an anchor; and the expectant mother pulling on the flexible cord member away from the assistant to supplement the contractions of the expectant mother's abdominal and pelvic floor muscles, and at least partially inducing the movement of a baby down the birthing canal.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/543,519 entitled “Birthing Grip/Second Stage Labor,” and filed on Feb. 11, 2004.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention generally relates to aids for assisting the delivery of babies during child labor, and specifically relates to non-invasive aides for assisting the delivery of babies during second stage child labor.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ARTDuring second stage labor, an expectant mother's contractions ideally pass a baby down the birth canal for delivery. Often, however, an expectant mother's efforts alone are not enough to complete natural childbirth. The causes of the aforementioned inability are numerous, including, inter alia, fatigue of the expectant mother, desensitization as a side effect of anesthesia.
Prior art approaches to assisting second stage labor include having the expectant mother grasp her legs while pushing with the abdominal muscles. Alternatively, the expectant mother may grasp handles, squat bars, or other accouterments attached to the expectant mother's bed or chair. These methods, however, are sometimes awkward, inconvenient, uncomfortable, and do not always provide an adequate resistance to sufficiently supplement contractions. Further, these methods sometimes interfere with intravenous tubes and other hospital apparatuses.
Failure of the prior art methods often necessitates the use of invasive procedures such as forceps delivery and vacuum extractions. These invasive procedures and others have increased risks associated for known, harmful effects to both the baby and expectant mother, including abrasions, edema, bruising and other trauma. Failure of these invasive procedures has also been associated with an increased need to perform cesarean sections.
What is needed are better non-invasive, inexpensive methods and apparatuses for assisting an expectant mother during the second stage of labor that enhance the contractions of her abdominal and pelvic floor muscles, and that are both simple to use, and highly portable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention has been developed in response to the present state of the art, and in particular, in response to the problems and needs in the art that have not yet been fully solved by currently available liner supports. Accordingly, the present invention has been developed to provide a method of second stage labor assistance at least including: providing a flexible cord member at least having at a first end, a first securing article, and at least having at a second end, a second securing article; coupling the first securing article to at least one upper extremity of an expectant mother; coupling the second securing article to at least one upper extremity of a person assisting (“assistant”) the expectant mother with child birth, the assistant at least serving as an anchor; and the expectant mother pulling on the flexible cord member away from the assistant to supplement the contractions of the expectant mother's abdominal and pelvic floor muscles, and at least partially inducing the movement of a baby down the birthing canal.
The present invention has been developed to further provide a method of second stage labor assistance at least including: providing a flexible cord member at least having at a first end, a first securing article, and at least having at a second end, a second securing article; coupling the first securing article to a first lower extremity of an expectant mother; coupling the second securing article to a second lower extremity of the expectant mother; coupling at least one upper extremity of the expectant mother to the center region of the flexible cord member; and the expectant mother moving the first and second lower extremities in opposition to the at least one upper extremity to supplement the contractions of the expectant mother's abdominal and pelvic floor muscles, and at least partially inducing the movement of a baby down the birthing canal.
The present invention has been developed to also provide an apparatus for second stage labor assistance at least including: a flexible cord member; a first securing article coupled to a first end of the flexible cord member and adapted to be coupled to at least one upper extremity of an expectant mother; and a second securing article coupled to a second end of the flexible cord member and adapted to be coupled to at least one upper extremity of a person assisting (“assistant”) the expectant mother with child birth, the assistant at least serving as an anchor; wherein the flexible cord member is further adapted to be pulled by the expectant mother away from the assistant to supplement the contractions of the expectant mother's abdominal and pelvic floor muscles, and at least partially induce the movement of a baby down the birthing canal.
Reference throughout this specification to features, advantages, or similar language does not imply that all of the features and advantages that may be realized with the present invention should be or are in any single embodiment of the invention. Rather, language referring to the features and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature, advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, discussion of the features and advantages, and similar language, throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment.
Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the invention.
These features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSIn order for the advantages of the invention to be readily understood, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings, in which:
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, and any additional applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.
During contractions, the expectant mother 110 pulls the labor assist apparatus with either one hand or two hands (115 and 116) toward her and away from the assistant. In the preferred embodiment, her elbows are held in an up and outward position during the pull. The assistant can remain stationary, or optionally pull away from the expectant mother to increase the effective resistance.
Each end (132, 142) of the labor assist apparatus 130 has a loop member (134 and 144) which secures a bar member (136 and 146) to the flexible cord member 131. Each bar member also contains padding (138 and 148) which provides a comfortable grip during pulling operations. The padding may be of numerous materials, including foam, to name just one of the many possibilities. In addition to the padding covering the bar members, optional padding 140 also covers the center region of the flexible cord member, so that the apparatus may be comfortably grasped there by an expectant mother using the apparatus without an assistant, as will be discussed infra.
Another embodiment of the present-inventive labor assist apparatus is shown in
Returning to
As an alternate approach illustrated in
A practical labor assist apparatus will accommodate expectant mothers of different heights, wingspans, etc., as well as be able to adjust to the available dimensions of the birthing area. As such, an alternate version of the present invention is shown in
Two size adjustment mechanisms 533 and 543 may contain, for example, sleeves for fixedly receiving looped ends of the flexible cord member and locking tabs (not shown), or other locking mechanisms for fixing the cord member in place and the respective size of the end loops. In the version 630 (see
Rather than anchor the size adjustment mechanism 533 to an end of the flexible cord member 531, an alternative version 730 of the apparatus (see
It is also possible to adjust the effective length of the birthing apparatus using the size adjustment mechanisms (533 and 543) on both ends or just one end of the apparatus 530, 630 and 730. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other versions of the loop size adjustment (and hence effective length adjustment of the apparatus) are possible given the above teachings, without departing from the scope of the present invention.
It is understood that the above-described preferred embodiments are only illustrative of the application of the principles of the present invention. The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiment is to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
It is expected that there could be numerous variations of the design of this invention.
Finally, it is envisioned that the components of the device may be constructed of a variety of materials.
Thus, while the present invention has been fully described above with particularity and detail in connection with what is presently deemed to be the most practical and preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications, including, but not limited to, variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use may be made, without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention as set forth in the claims.
Claims
1. A method of second stage labor assistance comprising:
- a) providing a flexible cord member comprising at a first end, a first securing article, and comprising at a second end, a second securing article;
- b) coupling said first securing article to at least one upper extremity of an expectant mother;
- c) coupling said second securing article to at least one upper extremity of a person assisting (“assistant”) said expectant mother with child birth, said assistant at least serving as an anchor; and
- d) said expectant mother pulling on said flexible cord member away from said assistant to supplement the contractions of said expectant mother's abdominal and pelvic floor muscles, and at least partially inducing the movement of a baby down the birthing canal.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
- said assistant pulling in opposition to the pulling of said expectant mother.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first securing article further comprises:
- a first bar member; and
- a first loop member coupled to said first bar member and to said first end.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein said first bar member further comprises padding.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein said second securing article further comprises:
- a second bar member; and
- a second loop member coupled to said second bar member and to said second end.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein said second bar member further comprises padding.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the element b) further comprises: coupling said first securing article to two hands of an expectant mother.
8. A method of second stage labor assistance comprising:
- a) providing a flexible cord member comprising at a first end, a first securing article, and comprising at a second end, a second securing article;
- b) coupling said first securing article to a first lower extremity of an expectant mother;
- c) coupling said second securing article to a second lower extremity of said expectant mother;
- d) coupling at least one upper extremity of said expectant mother to the center region of said flexible cord member; and
- e) said expectant mother moving said first and second lower extremities in opposition to said at least one upper extremity to supplement the contractions of said expectant mother's abdominal and pelvic floor muscles, and at least partially inducing the movement of a baby down the birthing canal.
9. An apparatus for second stage labor assistance comprising:
- a flexible cord member;
- a first securing article coupled to a first end of said flexible cord member and adapted to be coupled to at least one upper extremity of an expectant mother; and
- a second securing article coupled to a second end of said flexible cord member and adapted to be coupled to at least one upper extremity of a person assisting (“assistant”) said expectant mother with child birth, said assistant at least serving as an anchor;
- wherein said flexible cord member is further adapted to be pulled by said expectant mother away from said assistant to supplement the contractions of said expectant mother's abdominal and pelvic floor muscles, and at least partially induce the movement of a baby down the birthing canal.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said first securing article further comprises:
- a first bar member; and
- a first loop member coupled to said first bar member and to said first end.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said first bar member further comprises padding.
12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said second securing article further comprises:
- a second bar member; and
- a second loop member coupled to said second bar member and to said second end.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said second bar member further comprises padding.
14. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:
- a size adjustment mechanism adapted for receiving said flexible cord member through at least one sleeve;
- wherein said securing article comprises a loop of said flexible cord member at its end coupled through said size adjustment mechanism; and
- wherein said size adjustment mechanism is adapted to allow adjustment of the size of said loop and lock said flexible cord member at its convergence point, thereby determining the effective length of said apparatus.
15. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:
- a size adjustment mechanism adapted for receiving said flexible cord member through at least one sleeve;
- wherein said securing article comprises a loop of said flexible cord member at its end coupled through said size adjustment mechanism; and
- wherein said size adjustment mechanism is affixed to an end of said flexible cord member, and is adapted to allow adjustment of the size of said loop and lock said flexible cord member at its convergence point, thereby determining the effective length of said apparatus.
16. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:
- a size adjustment mechanism adapted for receiving said flexible cord member through at least one sleeve;
- wherein said securing article comprises a loop of said flexible cord member at its end coupled through said size adjustment mechanism; and
- wherein said size adjustment mechanism is affixed to a position along said flexible cord member, and is adapted to allow adjustment of the size of said loop by moving the end of said flexible cord member closer to or farther away from said size adjustment mechanism, and is further adapted to lock said flexible cord member at its convergence point, thereby determining the effective length of said apparatus.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 27, 2005
Publication Date: Sep 1, 2005
Inventors: Barbara Girgen (Salt Lake City, UT), Violet Schafer (Orange, CA)
Application Number: 11/046,385