The Hormone Cocktail to Get You Through Labour
Don’t worry, this article is not about brewing up a cocktail to ‘take the edge off’ of labour. This is about the recipe of hormones that will help and progress your labour. There are certain hormones than inhibit labour and others that well help you get through labour more smoothly, by optimizing their production.
Keep in mind, regulation and balancing of hormones is exceedingly sophisticated and complex, even when not associated with labour!
There are several hormones integral to the birthing process including:
Estrogen
Progesterone
Oxytocin
Beta-endorphins
Catecholamine (aka adrenaline)
Understanding the influences of each hormone on the labour process can help inform your coping strategies during labour and delivery.
Let’s make a hormone cocktail for labour!
The components of any cocktail is simple.
The base (or spirit) the foundation of the cocktail.
Modifier(s) of complimentary ingredients to enhance the cocktail flavours.
Accent(s) add a hint of extra flavour or colour.
THE BASE: Hormones for Labour
Estrogen and progesterone are the two primary pregnancy hormones that steadily rise throughout pregnancy and will drop off upon the onset of contractions. Both hormones are responsible for activating, inhibiting, and recognizing other hormone systems, and are the primary pregnancy hormones.
Let’s call these two hormones the base of our hormone cocktail.
ESTROGEN allows the uterus and placenta to improve vascularization that improves oxygen and nutrient supply throughout the body. It’s also responsible for the transfer of nutrients to support your developing baby.
The rapid increase in estrogen levels during your first trimester may cause some of the nausea associated with pregnancy. Estrogen levels will reach their peak in your third trimester.
Although estrogen is most commonly known for it’s role in supporting pregnancy, it also has a large influence on labour and leading into postpartum.
Estrogen also increases oxytocin receptors in the uterus in preparation for labour contractions, and contributes to milk duct development that enlarges your breasts in the third trimester.
PROGESTERONE causes a laxity or loosening of the ligaments and joints during pregnancy. This loosing helps your body adapt to your growing uterus and developing baby. It’s also responsible for transforming your uterus from the size of a small pear to a size that can accommodate a full-term baby.
THE MODIFIERS: Enhance Your Hormones
These hormones are complimentary to estrogen, progesterone, and can significantly enhance the birth process.
OXYTOCIN is known as the ‘love’ hormone, it’s released by the pituitary gland, and signals your uterus to contract. The synthetic version of this hormone is pitocin.
Oxytocin helps your labour progress by creating positive feedback that increases contractions. It also creates a natural euphoria during labour. Overall, this hormone is integral to keep labour progressing.
MELATONIN (related to sleep!) boosts oxytocin production – thus can help keep labour progressing. It enhances oxytocin production and in turn compliments the labour process.
Melatonin release is triggered by quiet, dark settings, but is hindered by interruptions, observations, and bright lights (like some hospital settings). It’s not integral to focus on melatonin production, but understanding it’s influence on labour can help. Especially in situations when you may need extra support to relax and stay calm during labour.
ENDORPHINS are the body’s naturally occurring opiate a.k.a natural pain relief! Your body produces it in response to stress or perceived pain and they act to restore internal balance (homeostasis) within your body.
Oxytocin helps release endorphins, but other methods to boost endorphin production include:
Laughter & love
Massage & touch
Endorphin levels continually rise during labour and can produce a heightened state of consciousness to help cope with the birthing process. After birth, high endorphin levels can cause feelings of alertness, attentiveness, and euphoria which contributes to strengthening the bond between birthing person and their baby.
Endorphins are integral to the hormone cocktail of labour as they can greatly enhance your labour when present, and significantly alter the process without them.
THE ACCENTS: Just a Hint
ADRENALINE is known as the ‘fight or flight’ hormone is triggered by fear, stress, and bright lighting.
As adrenaline rises your:
Breathing increases
Heart rate increases
Oxytocin levels decrease
Birth slows
It is important to keep adrenaline levels low during early labour to help with the progression of contractions.
But! Just like in a well made cocktail, use accents in moderation.
Higher levels of adrenaline near the end of labour help stimulate contractions, known as the ‘fetal ejection reflex’.
This reflex helps you push baby out during delivery. So although we DO want some adrenaline near the end of labour, we want to avoid having too much in the beginning. Just a hint of adrenaline, but not too much!
RELAXIN is produced by your ovaries and placenta. It helps you regulate your cardiovascular and renal systems as your body adjusts to the increased demand for oxygen and nutrients for your baby.
It’s also responsible for the relaxation of ligaments (like progesterone) to accommodate your growing baby, and of your blood vessels to increase blood flow to the placenta.
PROLACTIN is considered the ‘mothering’ hormone, and what prepares your breasts for lactation.
This hormone, produced by the pituitary gland, and affects your body in more than three hundred ways, including:
Induction of maternal behaviour
Increase of appetite
Suppression of fertility
Reducing the stress response
Stimulates oxytocin production
Reduction in body temperature
Pain relief.
Overall, prolactin has a significant effect on the birthing person’s brain after birth and throughout postpartum.
I would consider this hormone an accent to the hormone cocktail to get through labour because it supports other hormones, and contributes to other physiological aspects after your birth.
I propose a toast to a positive birth!
This article was meant to be a tad funny to compliment the somewhat dry and overwhelming content that is birth hormones.
I hope you’ve learned a little to take away to your own birth, and apply them in a light and positive way. If you’re looking for pregnancy and birth support, you can check out my doula services page, or if you have just a few pregnancy/birth questions, feel free to reach out to me directly!
