Vacuum delivery ain't weird, and it's rarely used when it isn't needed. There are standards you have to follow when using a vacuum because, as you might surmise, careless use can end poorly. The goal of everyone in the room is happy, healthy babies and mothers. From what I understand, vacuums aren't any fun to use so you don't see them coming out more often than necessary.
I got vacuumed! My mom was super embarrassed because my dad was excitedly telling the nurses that he uses the same vacuum to clean bleeding brakes
A girl I played sports with in high school had the tongs. She had a scar behind her ear where hair refused to grow that she was super self-conscious about. When I asked her how she got it and she explained, I was horrified (of course...she did use the words "like big tongs"). As someone who had worked a lot with kids at that point, I had always been taught that their head is like a fragile eggshell and if you touch it too hard it will shatter and the child will die. The fact that using measures like that is a thing was mind-boggling. I realize now that my horror wasn't complete justified but it's still kind of insane.
Chamberlen forceps are often held out as the A#1 reason for patent law. The Chamberlens kept them secret for 150 years, which probably contributed to the deaths of something like 150,000 mothers and babies. They were also public domain 50 years before the Declaration of Independence so it's not like OBs haven't gotten used to them. The girl you played sports with probably had a sportier birth than she knew. Getting scarred by forceps is pretty rare from my understanding.
I got vacuumed and also have a cutis aplasia congenita patch on the crown of my head (don't Google Image it, all the pictures are extra wound-y looking, mine is covered now) . Since it's rare, most of the nurses thought the two were related.
I believe Sylvester Stallone has his characteristic droopy face and mushy voice because of those things.
In undergrad I read an eye-opening article about the medicalization of pregnancy/labor in the US. It went from the most semiotic aspects that treat women giving birth as a medical problem - such as being kept in a wheelchair - to the more profound and practical. The thing that stuck out the most for me is the orientation of a pregnant woman's body. In most traditional cultures women give birth in a vertical position, often by squatting. In the medicalized American version women are horizontal, which means they aren't being aided by simple gravity. Gotta see if I can dig that article up.