Will the real OXYTOCIN please stand up...

Will the REAL Oxytocin please stand up!

An Oxytocin-Filled Birth ~
Sometimes having the information you need is enough. Knowing that oxytocin plays a powerful role through pregnancy, birth, and beyond is enough to help you say “I want that” for your labour and birth. Sometimes you want more information. Sometimes you want practical ways to work with your body, with hormones like oxytocin, and with your baby to have the natural birth you want.

That’s why I spend time reflecting and researching on the birth I hope for with our next baby.

Bonnie’s birth was quite traumatic and lengthily. I had it all set out in my birth plan exactly how I wanted it to go, but she got stuck at 4cm for over 16 hours. Little did I know then, that maybe If I had emptied my bladder that my cervix may have dilated and Bonnie would have been able to move down the birth canal and not have gotten twisted up in the umbilical cord.

Bonnie was delivered by emergency c-section and had the cord wrapped round her neck three times 😞 the photo I have included below actually makes me feel really emotional, you can see the cord around her tiny neck and I am so grateful that she was eventually safely delivered into the world by the excellent team at Broomfield.

Due to the emergency delivery, my wishes for delayed cord clamping and immediate skin to skin didn’t happen, and knowing what I do now, that this could have still happened. So this time round I want to feel more in control throughout the birth (and more with it) to ensure my birth plan wishes are met.

This being our fourth baby, I feel that I am a lot more empowered to know what is going on with my body and want to be in full control and aware of the birth.

I have been looking into many different aspects of birth, including hiring a Doula, hypnobirthing, researching vitamin K, my rare blood group (rhesus negative), the list goes on.

Why? Because giving birth and bringing another baby safely into the world is one of the most important things I will ever have the responsibility of doing in my life! 💜 I am also a strong believer in the way we give birth has a massive impact on the postnatal well being of the mother and baby.

I have recently been looking more into hypnobirthing and specifically the third stage of labour (delayed cord clamping, delivering the placenta etc)

The use of Oxytocic / Pitocin is a synthetic version of OXYTOCIN, it is routinely given by injection to help induce labour (as was given with Bonnie) and is used after the placenta is delivered to help the uterus contract (to prevent haemorrhaging)

However I will be letting the real OXYTOCIN take over and hopefully go through the third stage of labour as nature intended.

When Pitocin has not overwhelmed the body, natural oxytocin levels peak as the baby is born and remain very high for about an hour after birth. The levels are so high, in fact, that everyone in the room can feel the effects of mama's oxytocin – everyone experiences the “birth high.”
Oxytocin floods your system, signaling your uterus to contract, shear off the placenta, and shrink down. This effectively closes off the blood flow in your uterus, leaving you with only normal postpartum lochia flow within a short time.
Being with your baby boosts oxytocin further. Smell, sight, touch, and pheromones all appear to act together during this time period. You gaze at your baby, touch him or her, feel his/her movements at your breast (not necessarily nursing yet). All of this continues to raise your oxytocin levels, and interrupting it is dangerous to you and your baby because interruptions stop the oxytocin flow. Looking at, touching, and smelling your baby causes an oxytocin peak. Baby's movements and massaging of your breasts causes another. And baby latching on causes yet another. All of this is well-designed, and all of it depends on letting birth happen naturally – letting the oxytocin flow.