Birthing glove
OwnerBich Van Nguyeninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A birthing glove exposes portions of the finger and thumb, which may be covered by a regular surgical glove. The birthing glove has a trank having an inner wall covering the palm and backhand of the birthing practitioner. Four finger sleeves and a thumb sleeve extend from the trank and terminate over the first phalanx of each finger. A cuff extends from the trank for covering at least a portion of the practitioner's forearm and an inflatable bladder is disposed over the inner wall of the trank adjacent to the back of the hand for inflation in order to expand behind the exposed fingers and thumb of the practitioner in order to dilate the birth canal and provide access to the head of the infant.
Claims14
A method of hand delivering an infant head first through a birth canal using a hand of a practitioner, comprising:
- covering the hand of the practitioner with a thin surgical glove;
- covering the hand of the practitioner with an expandable glove fitting over the surgical glove, the expandable glove having a trank;
- leaving fingers and a thumb of the practitioner free of the expandable glove so that the fingers and thumb project therefrom;
- inserting the hand of the practitioner covered by the surgical and expandable gloves into the birth canal;
- expanding the expandable glove by inflating an inflatable bladder installed within the trank of the expandable glove,
- gripping a head of the infant with the fingers and thumb of the practitioner while supporting the head of the infant with the palm of the hand of the practitioner, and
- withdrawing the infant through the birth canal.
A method of hand delivering an infant head first through a birth canal using a hand of a practitioner, comprising:
- expanding the birth canal with an inflatable bladder in a trank of an expandable glove disposed over the back of one hand of the practitioner;
- leaving a palm, fingers and a thumb of the hand of the practitioner free of the inflatable bladder to allow flexibility of the palm, fingers and thumb;
- gripping a head of the infant with the fingers and thumb of the hand of the practitioner while supporting the head of the infant with the palm of the hand of the practitioner, and
- with the birth canal expanded by the inflatable bladder, withdrawing the infant through the birth canal.
A method of hand delivering an infant head first through a birth canal using a hand of a practitioner, comprising
- covering the hand of the practitioner with a thin surgical glove;
- covering the hand of the practitioner with an expandable glove fitting over the surgical glove, the expandable glove having a trank;
- leaving fingers and a thumb of the practitioner free of the expandable glove so that the fingers and thumb project therefrom;
- inserting the hand covered by the surgical and expandable gloves into the birth canal;
- expanding the expandable glove by inflating a bladder installed within the trank of the glove,
- gripping the head of the infant with the fingers and thumb while supporting a head with a palm of the hand of the practitioner, and
- withdrawing the infant through the birth canal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.