oxytocin hormone and childbirth?

Question

Why would they administer a pregnant women with oxytocin during labour? shouldnt she be producing her own naturally anyway?

thanx!!

Answer 1

Yes it is synthesised naturally during chlbirth...it is required for breast feeding.
But i dont have any idea why they adminidter a pregnant women with oxytocin during labour.

Answer 2

Yes, she should be producing her own oxytocin naturally. But doctors often don’t want to give her time. According to a recent survey by Childbirth Connection, more than four out of ten mothers said that their caregiver tried to induce their labor -- and in 35 percent of those cases, there was no medical reason for it.

Oxytocin is produced by the brain as part of maintaining our normal physical state. As it travels through the bloodstream, it helps regulate blood pressure, hunger and thirst. It's also released in spurts in response to specific stimuli: orgasm, being stroked, being close to people we love, petting a furry animal.

Basically, oxytocin is what makes us experience that state we call love.

If oxytocin rises when we feel safe and happy, it falls when we feel frightened, anxious or stressed. Oxytocin is part of the body's natural response to what’s going on around us.

During labor, oxytocin stimulates the uterus to contract, slowly pushing the baby through the birth canal. The birth process is not unlike that leading up to an orgasm: Contractions slowly build until there's release. In fact, some women do experience orgasms during childbirth.

Now, imagine if you had to reach orgasm in an unfamiliar, brightly lit place with strangers rushing around and interrupting you. It would be pretty hard. Even if it’s a cheery hospital, the strange surroundings and associations with pain and illness can make it hard to relax enough for those oxytocin pulses to carry the baby out into the world.

Also, the oxytocin pulses need to build intensity, and some hospitals simply don’t allow enough time. If labor doesn’t progress according to their timetable, they begin intravenous pitocin, a synthetic form of oxytocin. Some midwives think that because the amount of pitocin administered is much greater than the oxytocin that should be naturally produced, the contractions are much stronger and more painful.

Answer 3

Yes, she has her own. But it might not be enough.

Oxytocin is used during labor for several reasons.

1. It can be used to induce labor in women who are not doing it spontaneously. Induction of labor can be done when a woman is overdue (the placenta eventually gives out, so labor is induced to prevent stillborn babies), if she is pre-eclamptic (delivery is the only cure for pre-eclampsia), if she is diabetic (babies of diabetic moms can be macrosomic (huge) and that can lead to problems with delivery) or if her membranes are ruptured for a prolonged period of time (infection can set in - dangerous for both Mom & baby). There are a bunch of other reasons as well.

2. It can be used to augment a labor that isn't going as expected. Labor is stressful on both Mom and baby. Sometimes it is best to get a labor moving faster. Oxytocin will strengthen contractions, and make them occur more regularly.

Answer 4

Yes, oxytocin is stored in the posterior pituitary gland and is released to enduce labor contractions. Many times patients are given this hormone to either increase contractions, speed up delivery, or to keep the bodies response to the birthing process in balance.

Answer 5

My sister had to have her son induced; she was like 2 weeks overdue. When that boy was born, he looked like he could start kindergarten, he was pretty good sized. If the doc would have waited any longer, the kid could have started 1st grade right out of the womb!! Yes, sometimes induction with oxytocin is necessary.

Answer 6

Oxytocin causes the uterus to contract. This helps expell the placenta and also prevents hemorrhaging. Although the woman does produce it by herself, it is done as more of a safety measure.

Answer 7

They administer it if you're contractions are weak, or if labor was in progress and stopped, or to induce labor if you have gone too far over your due date. Its also given if your cervix has dilated and no contractions are present. Or your water has broken and there are no contractions.

Hope this helps.

Answer 8

It makes the uterus contract. Routinely given after delivery to help shut down the bleeding.

Answer 9

thnk it helps you along, and they do it after as well to help your womb contract back down

Answer 10

Blue is correct.