Birth ABC explanation part 3

Vitamin K oral drops

Vitamin K deficiency is a rare but extremely dangerous disease in newborns, that can easily be prevented by giving extra vitamin K at birth. Usually, this is given as an injection but it is also available as oral drops. To read more, click here.

Labor

The hard work that is needed in order to birth a baby. Usually, the term labor refers to the first and second stages of the birth: the time when the uterus dilates from 0 to 10 cm, and then the pushing stage until the baby is born. It is called labor because this is just plain hard physical work! But we can do it.

Midwife

A birth attendant who is trained in low risk, normal births. She usually comes from the point of view that birth is something normal that needs to be looked after. This is in contrast with doctors (obstetricians) that come from the point of view that all births are potentially dangerous. Obstetricians are surgeons.

There are 3 types of midwives; Direct Entry Midwives (DEM's), who went to midwifery school and got certified. Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNM's) first have a degree in general nursing and then took a midwifery course. And there are Lay Midwives who never attended official midwifery education (or never finished it) but rather learned the skills from other experienced midwives.

In Israel, only CNM's are recognized. They are the ones who attend births at the hospital, as long as it is low-risk. There are also midwives who attend home births, you can find a complete list here.


Natural

Birth is natural. It is an integral part of life, just like sleeping or digesting food or having sex. Giving birth is healthy, even though it hurts. Usually, pain is a sign that something is wrong in our bodies. In this case, the pain is a sign that something is going right, the baby is on its way to being born. We should not view birth as something clinical or pathological (although it can be in some cases), but rather as something that naturally belongs to us.

Oxytocin

Oxytocin is a hormone that is secreted by the pituitary gland. It is also known as the love hormone. It is released when we make love (both in men and in women), and also during birth. Oxytocin is the hormone that causes the uterus to contract. Without it, there would be no contractions. When oxytocin reaches the brain again, endorphins are released. Endorphins are the body's natural drugs and pain killers. It makes us feel high and it also makes us feel less pain. In turn, the release of endorphins stimulate the release again of oxytocin.

Pitocin

Artificial oxytocin, used to enhance contractions. Sometimes we need a little help giving birth. In some cases it is necessary to make labor start artificially (induction of labor) or to speed up labor after it has already started (augmentation). In both cases, Pitocin is often used.
Just like oxytocin, pitocin causes the uterus to contract. The big catch however is that pitocin can't pass the blood-brain barrier which means it can't reach the brain, and endorphins are not released. This usually means that women on pitocin feel the contractions much stronger and sharper than natural contractions. Also, the contractions might be harder on the fetus and cause decelerations in the heart beat and fetal distress. This is why women on 'pit' have a higher chance to end up with a cesarean section.

To be continued...

For the whole birth ABC, click here.
Birth ABC explanation: part 1. Click here.
Birth ABC explanation: part 2. Click here.

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