BIRTH HORMONES LET THEM FLOW
When our ancestors were in labour and giving birth, they had other women in attendance. Young girls and women grew up knowing and seeing birthing as a very normal event. They were exposed to this normality from an early age. As birth has become more medicalised, the only exposure for most ‘modern’ women is what they see in movies and on television.
Women have been brainwashed into believing that birth is something to be feared, that it is painful, and must be treated as a medical event, rather than a normal event. As a result many have lost sight of the fact that, as women, we are designed to become pregnant, give birth and mother.
To experience a beautiful and enjoyable pregnancy, labour and birthing, there are just a few basics. Most people would do their due diligence when buying a car or house, for example. This is way more important.
4 must-do’s – shop around
- Find the right caregiver for you, midwife or obstetrician
- Find the right place to give birth, for you, birth centre, hospital delivery suite, home
- Find the right doula support, for you
- Find the right prenatal course, for you
A woman makes all these decisions on behalf of her baby, allowing them the best opportunity to enter the world in a loving, caring and peaceful way.
BUT the most important, and sometimes the most challenging is to change the way your mind thinks about birth.
ENERGY FLOWS WHERE YOUR ATTENTION GOES – the more concentration on fear about birthing, the more focus on listening and absorbing all the horror birth stories and movie and television images, the more this interrupts the flow of birth hormones.
Birth is a sensual experience, sometimes orgasmic, as the same hormones responsible for birthing, are the very ones present during lovemaking. Birth must be respected as intimate and sacred.
Birthing Hormones – a brief overview
- Oxytocin the hormone of love, responsible for feelings of loving, trust and mother-infant bonding. Released from the pituitary gland, it helps with the cervix dilating and birthing baby and placenta. This is the hormone which plays an important role in orgasm, for both men and women. Also responsible for the overwhelming ‘in love’ feeling a woman has towards her baby, immediately upon meeting for the first time, on the outside.
- Endorphins – these hormones work as a natural analgesic. Also responsible for providing that incredible feeling of pleasure following exercise and orgasm. It is not uncommon for women to talk about being on another planet, or having an out of body experience.
- Adrenaline the fight or flight response this can be a protection hormone in labour. An animal, who is in labour, but senses imminent danger, secretes adrenalin, stopping labour, allowing her to find a safe place. This hormone release is responsible for many women experiencing slow labours, which inevitably end up with medical intervention. They can feel unsafe, simply by birthing in a medicalised environment, without appropriate support.
- Prolactin – is the breastfeeding or mothering hormone, and begins during pregnancy. It helps with nesting and bonding in the first few months of life.
The fears and medicalised way of birthing is the main contribution to interference of the hormonal flow during labour and birthing. We must get back to and provide women with an opportunity to connect and trust their innate birthing power.
