Birthing Rope Revolutionizing Labor, Delivery North Carolina Nurse Invents Birthing Rope Newlin Archinal
POSTED: 4:20 p.m. EDT August 1, 2003 UPDATED: 4:45 p.m. EDT August 1, 2003
PITTSBURGH -- Any woman who has given birth knows how difficult labor can be.
Now a nurse has found a way to revolutionize labor and delivery that can cut that pushing time to minutes.
It's called the Benson Birthing Rope and was invented by Shirley Benson, a labor and delivery nurse in North Carolina.
The mom pulls on the rope when she pushes.
"It takes the pushing from your face where you would normally push and puts it in your pelvic area. It isolates the growing muscle," Benson said.
The rope is 5 feet long and made of a soft, manmade fiber with a specially-sized knot for the mom to hold on to.
Stacey Gardner remembers how hard pushing was when she had her first child.
"It's really hard to concentrate and it's really hard to you know to make sure your pushing -- especially when you have an epidural cause you can't feel anything," Gardner said.
When Gardner was in labor with her second child, she started using the rope when she was fully dilated -- after about eight hours.
The rope went on her wrist and the nurse held the other end.
The nurse managed the pushes.
"Don't try to pull yourself up in the bed -- just pull on the knot and undouble it," Benson said.
While Gardner was pulling, her pelvic muscles were pushing and the pushes were much more effective.
The hospital says no one has pushed more than 45 minutes using the rope, instead of the typical two to three hours.
Also this rope means doctors almost never need a vacuum extractor.
Gardner pushed through only two contractions and on the third -- after just six minutes of pushing -- a healthy baby girl was born.
Right now, the Benson Birthing Rope is being used at several hospitals in North Carolina, but it is gaining exposure nationwide.
To find out more about the Benson Birthing Rope, call 828-443-9278, visit theBenson Birthing Rope Web site or e-mail snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com.
You can also write to:
Benson Birthing Rope P.O. Box 10426 Hickory, N.C. 28603