04/07/2026
Let's talk about fear and how it can work against labor and birth.
When we are in labor we want to flood ourselves with oxytocin. Oxytocin is the PowerHouse hormone to make a baby, have a baby and feed a baby. But for right now, let's talk about how we need it to have a baby.
Oxytocin is also called the love hormone. This is that rush we get. We get those good feelings of happiness,Joy, love this is oxytocin. You can get these from cuddling kissing, s*x, having a warm bath, watching something funny, having a quiet warm lite environment etc. All these things bring out that hormone.
Now we need that hormone oxytocin to drive contractions. This is what stimulates uterine contractions in labor. When we get that oxytocin rising, it stimulates that contraction pushing that baby down to the cervix which stimulates the cervix to continue to open up to continue to make contractions and it all works as a well-oiled machine when we don't bring fear into play.
Fear cause your labor to stall by triggering a surge of stress hormones such as adrenaline, which directly inhibits the release of oxytocin. Doing the inner work before you go into labor is what's really crucial here but also having people by your side to get you out of that fear state that can creep up on you when you are in labor is so important as part of your birth plan. If we let go and release those fears we can let our oxytocin do what it needs to do.
When we give into the labor and set the tone of our environment. We are going to have a perfect environment to keep having the beautiful oxytocin keep releasing and progressing labor.
