Spontaneous vaginal delivery or normal labor is a method of childbirth wherein the delivery of the baby happens on its own without requiring any doctor’s tools or methods to pull out the baby. The process of labor involves contraction of the uterus that is the womb and dilatation or opening up of cervix that is the mouth of womb. Along with bearing down efforts of mother and the contraction of womb, the baby is pushed down. With the recent advances in anesthesia we can offer you painless labor with the help of epidural and gasses. Sometimes the process of labor does not progress as desired and doctors have to intervene that is what is known as assisted vaginal delivery.

Assisted vaginal delivery involves either application of forceps or vacuum to pull out the baby. Forceps are generally like large two spoons which may be inserted in the vagina to pull out the baby using a traction force. Vacuum on the other hand is a suction like device which fits onto the head of the baby and the baby is pulled out using the suction-traction force. Certain medical conditions like heart diseases in mother where the mother cannot be encouraged to push a lot or maternal exhaustion or fall in baby’s heart beat during the process of delivery are some of the indications to use it.