Going Into Labor: The Hormonal Loop

Video Transcript

"So once your body, to start labor, you're going to have what's called a hormonal loop. Now the thing is that no one knows when you're actually going to go into labor and it can't be predicted, but it is kind of known what's happening in your body. So what's happening is that your baby is getting deeper and deeper into your pelvis. Your baby is getting deeper into the uterus and starts hitting its head against the woman's cervix. This then sends a message to the pituitary glands which sends a message to the ovaries to start releasing a hormone called oxytocin. Oxytocin is in men?s' and women?s' body and it is also known as the love hormone. And in general, every day if we touch someone, if we give a massage, if we hug someone, when we have sex or an orgasm, oxytocin is released and it gives us a feeling of love, of security. It's a good feeling. During labor, oxytocin is what actually makes the uterus contract. So it's a completely different thing once you're in labor. After you give birth, and you put the baby up to your chest, oxytocin is released again and that is kind of what's responsible for a bonding feeling. It's actually the hormone that's going on. So you really want to get that baby as deep down into your pelvis as possible beforehand because that's going to hit the cervix more and that's going to release more oxytocin. So what happens is, is this is your uterus, this is your cervix. The baby is going to be higher up in the uterus. But as you get closer to labor, that baby is going to start to get deeper and deeper. And the baby, as it gets deeper, is going to start hitting on the cervix. So as the baby hits the cervix, that's going to send the message to release the oxytocin and oxytocin is what makes it possible to have the labor, labor start because the uterus starts contracting. So one of the ways to know that you're getting closer to labor is when the hormonal loop happens."