This is a really interesting excerpt explaining why it is common for labour and birth to go all 'pear-shaped' when a woman sets foot inside a hospital. The hospital environment certainly does create stress, which causes our bodies to release adrenaline, which cancels out the key birthing hormone oxytocin....I have also included some info from www.childbirthconnection.org relating to the various roles of hormones during labour and how to optimise your birthing experience.

The Art of Midwifery
Our understanding of birth physiology is based on the simple fact that adrenaline (the emergency hormone mammals release when they are scared, when they are cold or when they feel observed) and oxytocin are antagonistic. In other words, when human beings release adrenaline, they cannot release oxytocin.

This indicates the main role of the midwife: to protect the laboring woman against any situation associated with a rising level of adrenaline. This is an art because it involves the personality, the way of being, the background, the experience and the intuition of the birth attendant. Since adrenaline release is highly contagious, one of the main preoccupations of the birth attendant is maintaining her own level of adrenaline as low as possible. Midwives often use tricks to keep their stress levels low. One of these is to engage in a repetitive task, such as knitting.

Avoiding useless stimulation of the maternal neocortex, which is the source of powerful inhibitions, is a real art. Remaining silent when verbal language is not absolutely necessary is an art. Escaping notice while, at the same time, being able to detect whether something is wrong is an art. Adapting to every particular case and to every particular situation is also an art.

— Michel Odent, excerpted from "Can the Art of Midwifery Survive Protocols?" Midwifery Today Issue 73


What is the role of oxytocin during labor and birth?
Oxytocin is often known as the "hormone of love" because it is involved with lovemaking, fertility, contractions during labor and birth, and the release of milk in breastfeeding. It helps us feel good, and it triggers nurturing feelings and behaviors.

Receptor cells allowing a woman's body to respond to oxytocin increase gradually in pregnancy, and then sharply in labor. Oxytocin is a potent stimulator of contractions, which help to dilate the cervix, move the baby down and out of her body, give birth to her placenta, and limit bleeding at the site of the placenta. During labor and birth, the pressure of the baby against the cervix and then against tissues in the pelvic floor stimulates oxytocin and contractions. So does a suckling newborn.

Low levels of oxytocin during labor and birth can cause problems by:
- causing contractions to stop or slow, and lengthening labor
- resulting in excessive bleeding at the placenta site after birth
- leading providers to respond to these problems with interventions.


What is the role of endorphins during labor and birth?
Endorphins are calming and pain-relieving hormones that people produce in response to stress and pain. The level of this natural morphine-like substance may rise toward the end of pregnancy, and then rises steadily and steeply during unmedicated labors. (Most studies have found a sharp drop in endorphin levels with use of epidural or opioid pain medication.) High endorphin levels during labor and birth can produce an altered state of consciousness that helps women flow with the process, even when it is long and arduous. Despite the hard work of labor and birth, a woman with high endorphin levels can feel alert, attentive, and even euphoric as she begins to get to know and care for her baby after birth. Endorphins may play a role in strengthening the mother-infant relationship at this time. A drop in endorphin levels in the days after birth may contribute to the "blues" that many women experience at this time.

Low levels of endorphin can cause problems in labor and birth by:
- causing labor to be excessively painful and to feel intolerable
- leading providers to respond to this problem with interventions.


What is the role of adrenaline during labor and birth?
Adrenaline is the "fight or flight" hormone that humans produce to help ensure survival. Women who feel threatened during labor (for example by fear or severe pain) may produce high levels of adrenaline. Adrenaline can slow labor or stop it altogether. Earlier in human evolution, this disruption helped birthing women move to a place of greater safety.

Too much adrenaline can cause problems in labor and birth by:
- causing distress to the unborn baby
- causing contractions to stop, slow, or have an erratic pattern, and lengthening labor
- creating a sense of panic and increasing pain in the mother
- leading providers to respond to this problem with cesareans and other interventions.


What steps can women take to help ensure that these hormones work well?
A woman can promote her body's production of oxytocin during labor and birth by:
- staying calm, comfortable, and confident
- avoiding disturbances, such as unwelcome people or noise and uncomfortable procedures
- staying upright and using gravity to apply her baby against her cervix and then, as the baby is born, against the tissues of her pelvic floor (these stimulate oxytocin)
- engaging in nipple or clitoral stimulation activities before birth and giving her baby a chance to suckle shortly after birth (these stimulate oxytocin).

A woman can enhance her body's production of endorphins during labor and birth by:
- staying calm, comfortable, and confident
- avoiding disturbances, such as unwelcome people or noise and uncomfortable procedures
- delaying or avoiding epidural or opioids as a pain relief method.

A woman can keep adrenaline down during labor and birth by staying calm, comfortable, and relaxed. The following can help:
- being informed and prepared
- having trust and confidence in her body and her capabilities as a birthing woman
- having trust and confidence in her caregivers and birth setting
- being in a calm, peaceful, and private environment and avoiding conflict
- being with people who help her with comfort measures, good information, positive words, and other support
- avoiding intrusive, painful, disruptive procedures.

How are you Jen? I was going to mention that I did feel well enough to cope with getting stuff done during Phoebe's pregnancy after I water-fasted for 3 days. I KNOW that fasting is not recommended during pregnancy, but I read up on a heap of fasting books from Soil and Health and came across a few different anecdotal accounts of short fasting being beneficial in morning sickness where there is extreme nausea responses without actual vomiting. Obviously also only okay where you feel like you are in a state of health that is conducive to fasting (which of course you are, being super raw woman ). It definitely made a significant difference to the way I felt, but of course this is a decision that is completely individual and personal. I couldn't find any information anywhere to suggest that Phoebe's genetic problems could be linked to my 3 day fast, and when I brought it up with the doctors they said there was no way that it could cause Turner's syndrome or foetal hydrops...although we know to second guess every 'truth' that comes out of a medical professional's mouth...  Just thought that I would put that one 'out there'.

Apparently ice chips are great for nausea/vomiting during the labour journey. I think you are quite right about the fear. Not everyone gets this response to the labour hormones, and if you have had it happen before it doesn't mean that it will next time - so you may be spared! Eating small amounts frequently (which is often all we can manage towards the end of our pregnancies anyhow...) at the end of pregnancy means that you are less likely to vomit during labour also - same goes for early labour, eating tiny mouthfuls is easiest on your system (with Angus I had pineapple chopped into teeny little squares). If you weren't raw during your last pregnancy and labour then that could mean that your next experience will be totally different, especially in the details such as whether or not you get nauseous and vomit. I hope some of this helps!

Yes! I love that one even though it is blurry - Isabella (my 8 year old) took it. Glad that the info was useful to you