The Emotional and Hormonal Pathways of Labour and Birth: Integrating Mind, Body and Behaviour.

Abstract

Background: Women have described normal labour and birth in terms of their emotions. Major advances in knowledge have occurred within the sciences resulting in an understanding of emotions as prime directors of human behaviour which is orchestrated by neurohormones. Method: This paper focusses on key aspects of contemporary knowledge of childbirth physiology, neuroscience and behaviour. It integrates this understanding with women's descriptions of their emotions during labour. Findings: Neurohormones associated with labour and birth are designed to trigger a transformation in the body and behaviour and create an environment which supports both the mother and the baby. Hormones and emotions are intertwined and interconnected. Labour hormones are linked to the woman's emotions and behaviour during labour and birth as well as the physical signs of labour. An interactive model is presented which explains labour in terms of both the physical effects and the emotional affects that women have described as part of their labour experience. The hypothesis for this model is that the hormones that initiate and sustain labour also cause the instinctual emotions that women feel, and the behaviour they exhibit, during spontaneous labour and birth. Conclusions: Hormonal changes are necessary to support the physical and emotional changes during labour and birth. The neurohormones which operate during pregnancy and during labour and birth also support

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“…Oxytocin is produced in hypothalamus and is sent altogether with secretoric neuron in order to be stored in posterior pituitary gland. Afterward, oxytocin will be released from hypothalamus after having been stimulated by both massage and baby suction (Dixon et al, 2013).…”

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“…Az endogén oxitocin felszabadulása hozzájárul a stressz csökkentéséhez, ami alapvető a szülési fájdalom-mal való megküzdés során [2]. A szintetikus oxitocin adagolása viszont csökkenti vagy akár le is állítja a termé-szetes oxitocin termelődését [14], vagyis alkalmazásával egy fontos fiziológiai alapokon nyugvó stresszkezelési mechanizmustól fosztjuk meg a szülőnőt.…”

“…A fizikai és a szociális környezet támogatása, a nyugalom biztosítása és csak a legszükségesebb beavatkozások vég-zése, mind alapvető szerepet játszanak a szülési stressz oldásában, és ezáltal a vajúdás és szülés érzékeny hormonális egyensúlyának fenntartásában. Ilyen körülmények között valódi értelmet nyer a nőközpontú szülészeti ellá-tás; a nő biztonságos körülmények között szülheti meg gyermekét, valamint szüléséről nemcsak rövid, hanem hosszú távon is pozitívan, elégedetten vélekedhet, stabil alapot biztosítva az anyaság új kihívásaihoz [2].…”