Before the obstetrical forceps, this had to be done by cutting the baby out piece by piece. In other cases, if the baby was deemed undeliverable, then the doctor would use an item called a crochet. This was used to crush the baby's skull allowing the baby to be pulled out of the mother's womb. Still in other cases, a caesarean section (c section) could be performed, but this would almost always result in the mother's death. "In addition, women who had forceps deliveries had shorter after childbirth complications than those who had caesarean sections performed." These procedures came with various risks to the mother's health along with the death of the baby.