The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS,
a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA
The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS,
a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA
|
An interactive resource for moms on easy steps they can take to reduce exposure to chemical toxins during pregnancy. Other excellent resources about avoiding toxins during pregnancy These are easy to read and understand and are beautifully presented. |
This is a fabulous article from Mothering Magazine:
Ecstatic
Birth: The Hormonal Blueprint of Labor
Issue 111, March/April 2002
By Sarah J. Buckley
Hormones
in Labour (The Onset of Human Labour), by Sarah J. Buckley,
MD at Women of Spirit
The
Chemical Symphony of Birth by Patricia Blomme
WomenExplainedByOBs - a pictorial
representation of the obstetric view that women have an ON/OFF switch controlled
by pitocin.
Oxytocin
and Vasopressin - My favorite hormones
Pharmacology
of parturition.
Roy AC, Arulkumaran S
Ann Acad Med Singapore 1991 Jan;20(1):71-7
Ann
N Y Acad Sci. 2004 Dec;1032:224-7.
The neurobiology of trust.
Zak PJ, Kurzban R, Matzner WT.
This is the first report that endogenous oxytocin in humans is related
to social behaviors . . . We conclude that oxytocin may be part of the
human physiology that motivates cooperation.
10 Reasons Why Oxytocin Is The Most Amazing Molecule In The World [7/12/12]
Hug The Monkey - how oxytocin,
the hormone of love, lets us trust and mate.
The
perinatal application of oxytocin and its potential influence on the human
psyche from Hug The Monkey
Christof Plothe, D.O., BSc., (OST), H.O.N.S., M.R.O., DPO, HP
Paper to be published in the ISPPM Journal, Spring 2010
Love
Chemistry: The Book by Elaine Fisher
The Association for Psychological
Science has some
great articles about oxytocin!
Trust in oxytocin - . . . The hormone oxytocin (applied as a nasal spray in this experiment) increases an individual's willingness to trust someone.
Some articles in the popular press about this study:
Building trust via nasal spray By COLIN FREEZE [6/2/05]
Tests
reveal 'trust in a bottle' hormone, from CNN
‘Cuddle
hormone’ - Research links oxytocin and socio-sexual behaviors from
oxytocin.org
Mom-Made
Hormone Shields Baby During Birth [12/15/06]
Oxytocin tells fetal brain to conserve oxugen, study finds
Science
15 December 2006:
Birth entails a multitude of transitions. Studying rats, Tyzio et al.
(p. 1788) have identified yet one more, a link between oxytocin exposure
and the switch in how certain brain neurons fire. The neuro-transmitter
GABA (-aminobutyric acid) is usually excitatory in fetal brain neurons
but inhibitory once they mature. Exposure to oxytocin during parturition
causes a switch from excitation to inhibition in GABA signaling. This quieting
of neuronal activity may serve to protect the brain against transient hypoxia
during birth.
Maternal
oxytocin triggers a transient inhibitory switch in GABA signaling in the
fetal brain during delivery.
Tyzio R, Cossart R, Khalilov I, Minlebaev M, Hubner CA, Represa A,
Ben-Ari Y, Khazipov R.
Science. 2006 Dec 15;314(5806):1788-92.
We report a signaling mechanism in rats between mother and fetus aimed at preparing fetal neurons for delivery. In immature neurons, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter. We found that, shortly before delivery, there is a transient reduction in the intracellular chloride concentration and an excitatory-to-inhibitory switch of GABA actions. These events were triggered by oxytocin, an essential maternal hormone for labor. In vivo administration of an oxytocin receptor antagonist before delivery prevented the switch of GABA actions in fetal neurons and aggravated the severity of anoxic episodes. Thus, maternal oxytocin inhibits fetal neurons and increases their resistance to insults during delivery.
In utero production of oxytocin
The demonstration that the rat uterus is a major site of oxytocin gene
expression during the late stages of pregnancy resolves the apparent paradox
between the powerful actions of exogenously administered oxytocin and the
lack of unequivocal evidence for a role of circulating
oxytocin. These findings suggest that, with respect to parturition,
oxytocin may act locally rather than as a circulating hormone.
The classic work describing early research into the emotional aspects
of oxytocin, especially as it relates to breastfeeding is Maternal Emotions
by Niles Newton. This was first published in 1955, but has been reprinted
many times. Dr. Newton was a trailblazer in the field of the physiology
of female sexuality in all its aspects, including lactation. Her excellent
chart showing the parallels between uninhibited, undrugged childbirth and
sexual excitement is an eye-opener and remains quite revolutionary to this
day. Many of the responses she describes can be related to the effects
of oxytocin.
People often ask me if orgasmic birth is really a possibility. Yes, definitely!
Let's be clear about what we're talking about: Birth can be orgasmic in the same way that chocolate can be orgasmic . . . a transcendental experience that one always remember with great satisfaction. This is the most that you can really hope for if you're giving birth attended by strangers or in any situation where you feel self conscious.
However, I have been privileged to be present at a couple of homebirths
where the women truly seemed to have orgasms as the baby emerged.
One of them said, "That was fabulous!" as she proudly held her baby in
her arms. The other said something like, "Oh, I could do that again
right away!" In both cases they seemed to experience the "fetal ejection
reflex" that Michel Odent writes about. One was on hands and knees
on her bedroom floor, leaning into her husband; she was very comfortable
with her sexuality, and nothing I did was inhibiting to her. The
other was using a TENS machine to generate endorphins before she got in
the birth tub for the last 5 minutes; her husband had run out for an urgent
errand when her labor seemed not to be progressing 15 minutes earlier,
so she was essentially alone in the tub.
Orgasmic
Birth - the movie!
The Functions of the Orgasms: The Highways to Transcendence by Michel Odent
Check out this summary of CHAPTER TWO
EXPLORING THE ULTIMATE STEPS OF THE BIRTH LADDER
- Emergence of new perspectives
- The fetus ejection
reflex
- Climbing towards
the ultimate steps
- A crucial moment
- A powerful hormonal
flow
- The real climax
From newsweek, July 23, 2001 re: "Chokehold"
Serving at Match Point in the Wimbledon final last week, Goran Ivanisevic
felt the weight of imaginary sandbags on his arms. Why should nerves
paralyze an athlete about to win? Being tantalizingly close
to an unexpected victory can cause what sports psychologists call overarousal.
The body produces excess adrenaline while restricting blood flow, tightening
the muscles and depleting fine-motor skills. Oddly enough, Ivanisevic
didn't have trouble lifting the Wimbledon trophy.
I wish I understood your statement a little better, but it's sort of "Greek" to me. I do know that an adrenaline rush can stop a labor, I guess it has to do with the relationship of hormones in the body. ???
Hope you don't mind, but I think we should put this out on the list.
I think it is important, not only to getting pregnant, but also to growing
healthy babies.
There is a fairly large body of research, though it seems that not many in the AMA want to pay much attention to it, that shows that adrenaline and other catecholamines (fight or flight hormones) have a vasoconstrictive effect on the female reproductive vessels, and thus perfusion. In fact adrenaline (epinephrine) is one of the few that can counter the vasodilating effects of the hormones of fertility (estrogen). This is thought to be a major cause of miscarriages during stress (death of a loved one, natural disasters, etc.), irregular periods in some women leaving home for the first time to enter college, and other situations.
I have often wondered about the stress associated with fertility clinics and the high failure rates and this relationship. I know of no fertility clinics that use TM or other stress reducing techniques. For families going through the process, it is quite stressful, not only for the constant anxiety of "are we pregnant yet?", but it can be like having the Gynecologist & Nurse in bed with the couple, not to count the $$$ stress.
For more information check out:
Resnik R: Anatomic alterations in the reproductive tract, in Creasy
RK, Resnik R, editors; Maternal-Fetal Medicine: Prin. & Practice, 2nd
ed. W. B. Saunders, 1989, p. 137-140.
Resnik R; The endocrine regulation of uterine blood flow in the nonpregnant
uterus: A review; Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1981; 140:151-156. or, of course:
DuBose TJ; FETAL SONOGRAPHY; W. B. Saunders Co. 1996, p. 345-351.
All of these will give you references to many more articles on the topic.
Circulating adrenaline (from the adrenal cortex) appears to cause vasoconstriction in the uterus (and hence increases pain because of hypoxia). In the brain a whole range of neurotransmitter chemicals that are involved in stress responses appear to inhibit the secretion of oxytocin...........and thus also have an effect on the uterus. I have quite a lot of references for this - physiology papers, reviews etc. - and Michel Odent has also been writing about it generally for a while.
The level of anxiety appears to determine the amount of adrenal involvement
in any stress response. The work of Frankenhauser in the seventies
- quoted all over the place in Health Psychology texts - is really applicable
to labour, cessation of periods in anorexics and athletes etc., and there
are lots of models being used just now for all kinds of generalised stress
responses.
Why does the presence of a doula decrease the pit rate?
When a woman feels safe (as she usually does with a doula) then she
releases oxytocin, which stimulates labor and therefore does not need pitocin
(synthetic oxytocin) to help her labor. If a woman does not feel safe,
she releases adrenaline, and adrenaline tends to stop labor.
This (release of adrenaline when under stress) is part of the "fight or flight" mechanics of our wonderful endocrine systems.
In the animal kingdom, if one is threatened, fright causes the release of adrenaline, which stops labor, enabling the animal in the throes of birth to stop birthing, and run away to safety.
Sometimes we need to be reminded that we are indeed animals, and that these primal mechanics are still at work within us.
Have you seen the video about breast self-attachment in newborns? This video (I can't remember the exact title, sorry) demonstrated a study regarding self-attachment in newborns, in various groups (i.e., medicated vs. unmedicated). The babies in the unmedicated group, when placed on the mother's abdomen, lifted their little heads, and crawled up to the breast under their own steam, with no help from the mother - just like we've all probably seen puppies or kittens do.
Just another example that our bodies (with rare exceptions) are quite capable of birthing and nurturing babies without intervention, as long as we feel safe and protected. Just like our animal friends.
Researchers find more receptors and more roles
for relaxin
The Endorphin
Connection - This site is really about the use of ACU-TENS to treat
addictions, but it starts with some interesting explanations of "The Nature
of Pain", and "Pain and the Nervous System".
How Endorphins of Natural Childbirth Can Heal
Birth Trauma for Older Siblings
Endorphins!!! Tell me about it. I was ready to do the whole thing over
again after I gave birth. I was blessed to have only a 5 hour labor with
him and he is my first. I've heard that each labor after gets shorter than
the one before, so I guess i better watch it. =) Only three weeks after
he was born, I asked my dh, "When can we have another one?" =) I was on
such a high! =)
In my studies of the hormones of birth, I've learned that the stress of labor causes a woman's body to release endorphines to ease the pain and to facilitate a primal bonding with her baby. In a natural labor, the levels of these hormones are significant, and they are passed through to the baby also to ease the stress on the baby. As a fun side effect, the endorphines seem to fill the air around the laboring woman so that her birth attendants also get to enjoy them. There's a reason why birth attendants sometimes call themselves "natural birth junkies". :-)
Endorphines are the "love hormones" released during sex, childbirth and breastfeeding, and they really are like an aphrodisiac, causing people "under the influence" to fall in love with each other without any rational filtering. I try not to usurp the power of these hormones, and I work hard to keep the family focused on each other in that first hour after birth, because I want them bonding with each other instead of with me.
Well, these endorphines can have a wonderful healing effect for couples who have had a past traumatic birth, as the mom is under the influence of nature's finest "narcotic", and the dad absorbs them from the air around her. But it was this message that really helped me to understand that this also pertains to the older children who were born through a traumatic birth process.
Well, dhuh. It just never occurred to me before.
So, chalk up one more benefit of natural childbirth - it can be used to help little ones heal from their own birth trauma and enjoy a level of bonding with their parents that they missed out on at their own births.
I really like this theory. It is great that it offers hope to families who have had a traumatic past birth experience, and it sort of explains why my desire to give birth again, or even to watch someone else giving birth, is reaching addiction proportions. In fact the whole pregnancy and birth experience for me was just one big trip. It also partly explains why I fell in love with my two midwives (even if I never see them again, I shall still regard them as some of my dearest friends). I think it also could explain why fathers bond so well with the babies after a tranquil homebirth, compared with an aggressive hospital delivery - one of my most precious memories is of my husband holding our baby boy in his arms while I was lying on our sofa having my tear stitched. He was sitting in the doorway on a kitchen chair and he happened to look up from James and smiled at me as I glanced towards him .. you could almost feel the love in the air.
How do you think the endorphins get into the air? Perhaps from
the mothers breath or sweat, do you think? Or maybe the excitement
and happy emotions of the event stimulate the sympathetic production of
similar chemicals in the bodies of the people around? I suppose many
forms of excitement are contagious in a confined situation, and birth *is*
a particularly focussed and centred event. If you accept the theory
that the happy hormones are given off by by the mother, it presumably works
the other way around in unhappy situations where fear and unhappiness are
transmitted between people and to the mother.
I suppose the transfer of the endorphines could be from the sweat of the mother, just like when you have several women living together they start ovulating at the same time after a while.
I wonder if that is why I had four midwives at my birth. One midwife
didn't want to leave when she should have at 5pm, she ended up staying
until 10pm. Once I had birthed, I just wanted to do it again and
the feeling didn't leave me for ages, I still feel envious when I hear
birth stories or see pregnant women. I was in a state of euphoria
for ages until I saw the worried faces re. my "retained" placenta.
Are these endorphins somehow masked in medicated births? I just
never felt that same "love" for the OB who made jokes, scalpel in hand,
while he performed my episiotomy during my first birth. : )
Yes, see Birth Trauma - Drugs Used in
Labor Suppress Bonding Instincts
Only slightly related, but:
Recent research shows that chili peppers contain a chemical, capsaicin, which has been shown in lab rats to dull the pain-killing effects of the G spot; it's not clear how long this effect lasts, but the little I've been able to find indicates that it's probably a relatively long-lasting effect and possibly cumulative.
Beyond the g spot: New research on human female sexual anatomy and physiology*, Whipple B, Scandinavian Journal of Sexology, Volume 3 no. 2
The
``G'' Spot May Govern Pleasure And Pain By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A woman's erogenous zone may exist
for more than mere pleasure. Researchers say evolution may have designed
the so-called ``G'' spot to ease the pain of childbirth.
[In case you're wondering how you can learn more about capsaicin, you
can start at Mike's
Pepper Garden - Pepper Science. And if you're wondering which
peppers have the most capsaicin in them, you'll want to investigate the
Heatscale.
Biobehavioral
responses to stress in females: tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight.
Taylor SE, Klein LC, Lewis BP, Gruenewald TL, Gurung RA, Updegraff
JA.
Psychol Rev. 2000 Jul;107(3):411-29. Review.
Scientific evidence that a woman in a stressful situation will do better
with another woman around. [University
summary]
I came across this information in Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Journal, Fall, 1996.
In reference to non-pharmaceutical pain relief for laboring women:
"Supporting physiological evidence includes findings that endorphin
levels are influenced by the hypothalamus, which is affected by 'pheromones
given out by birth attendants . . . the chemistry of confidence of
traditional midwives is . . . very different from the chemistry of fear
and doubt . . . in
the atmosphere of a modern hospital.'"
Maybe we shouldn't be taking so many showers or using deodorants? :-)
This is so cool!!! I'm not sure that pheromones are much effected by
showering and deodorant, seems like I've read that they are at a much higher
level of receptiveness.....kind of like ultrasound, only ultrasmell!!!!!
The
Making of a Modern Dad - fathers undergo hormonal changes that prime
them for parenting.
Hormonal
correlates of paternal responsiveness in new and expectant fathers.
Storey AE, Walsh CJ, Quinton RL, Wynne-Edwards KE.
Evol Hum Behav. 2000 Mar 1;21(2):79-95.
Little is known about the physiological and behavioral changes that
expectant fathers undergo prior to the birth of their babies. We measured
hormone concentrations and responses to infant stimuli in expectant and
new fathers living with their partners to determine whether men can experience
changes that parallel the dramatic shifts seen in pregnant women. We obtained
two blood samples from couples at one of four times before or after the
birth of their babies. After the first sample, the couples were exposed
to auditory, visual, and olfactory cues from newborn infants (test of situational
reactivity). Men and women had similar stage-specific differences in hormone
levels, including higher concentrations of prolactin and cortisol in the
period just before the births and lower postnatal concentrations of sex
steroids (testosterone or estradiol). Men with more pregnancy (couvade)
symptoms and men who were most affected by the infant reactivity test had
higher prolactin levels and greater post-test reduction in testosterone.
Hormone concentrations were correlated between partners. This pattern of
hormonal change in men and other paternal mammals, and its absence in nonpaternal
species, suggests that hormones may play a role in priming males to provide
care for young.
When
new dads go gooey-eyed, blame their hormones - from the web pages of
the New Scientist
From the London Times:
'Men are biologically programmed to be soppy after their children are born. A study shows that hormone changes put fathers through similar emotional rollercoaster to that experienced by Mothers.
Levels of testosterone, the male sex hormone, crash by an average of a third just after a baby is born. The lower it goes, the more a father dotes on the newborn. The effects, reported in New Scientist, are thought to be an evolutionary device to create an emotional bond with mother and child and make men less likely to stray.
Studies show that most male birds, rats and some primates are primed for their young in this way, but Anne Storey, a researcher at Memorial Hospital, in St John's, Newfoundland, found the effect in humans. Dr Storey who analysed blood samples from 34 couples, found that hormone changes in fathers were triggered even by watching videos of newborn babies.'
(Helen Rumbelow - The Times)
Personally I also found that the pregnancy affected my DH as well.
He had the heartburn, piles, backache that didn't really affect me - poor
little sausage!!! :-)
After our first child was in dh came into recovery sobbing! I
thought something was wrong w/our son. He was pretty emotional after
each baby. IT's great to fall in love all over again w/your spouse.
I'll never forget seeing him in such a different light after our first
was born.. Thanks for reminding me of that!
My hubby cried when our boys were born and every once in a while, he'll
get tears in his eyes while watching them. He also wept when we lost
our babies. In fact I remember when we lost our first baby he sat
outside and held that baby, no bigger than my small thumb and just wept
for that child. Then we buried her, (i think) in our yard.
all of our babies are buried there. It was a bittersweet moment to
bury our placenta from our newborn out there as well. Thanks for your kind
posts about our losses. It was very difficult and makes us more thankful
for our children. It's still a hard question to answer "how many
children do you have?" I consider my angels as part of our family,
even though we didn't really get to meet them and they are not here.
Most people don't acknowledge their existence and think I'm nuts for not
forgetting them. Oh well. I can't forget them :
I wonder if this is why people used to want to have children in order to save their marriage. I would also love to know what triggers this hormonal change in the father. Is it the endorphins produced by the mother? I notice that this study comes out of England, where they have a significantly lower use of epidurals than here in the U.S. Does the hormonal change in the father occur only with natural childbirth?
| About the Midwife Archives / Midwife Archives Disclaimer |