Even if I wasn’t born months premature, purple and being choked by an umbilical cord, I would still be awed by a new and unlikely invention from an Argentine car mechanic that eases difficult births. It looks dangerous, but it’s a lifesaver. From Donald G. McNeil Jr. at the New York Times: 

“With the Odón Device, an attendant slips a plastic bag inside a lubricated plastic sleeve around the head, inflates it to grip the head and pulls the bag until the baby emerges.

Doctors say it has enormous potential to save babies in poor countries, and perhaps to reduce cesarean section births in rich ones.

‘This is very exciting,’ said Dr. Mario Merialdi, the W.H.O.’s chief coordinator for improving maternal and perinatal health and an early champion of the Odón Device. ‘This critical moment of life is one in which there’s been very little advancement for years.’

About 10 percent of the 137 million births worldwide each year have potentially serious complications, Dr. Merialdi said. About 5.6 million babies are stillborn or die quickly, and about 260,000 women die in childbirth. Obstructed labor, which can occur when a baby’s head is too large or an exhausted mother’s contractions stop, is a major factor.”