At Home with Kelly + Tiffany
At Home with Kelly + Tiffany
Ep 188. Pitocin vs Oxytocin
Who would have thought THIS would be one of the most controversial topics we've shared about on social media?! We're chatting synthetic Pitocin and naturally occurring oxytocin on the pod today. Discover why it matters for your birth and postpartum experience, hear real-life stories, and learn how to navigate these crucial decisions for your own birth journey.
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
01:09 Today's Controversial Topic: Pitocin vs. Oxytocin
02:42 Listener Review
05:31 Understanding Oxytocin
13:44 Understanding Pitocin
15:06 Pitocin's Impact on Labor and Birth
25:08 Supporting Natural Oxytocin Production
29:56 Real-Life Experiences with Pitocin and Oxytocin
34:15 Holistic Birth Preparation and Education
39:46 Conclusion and How to Support the Podcast
Links We Chat About
Our Instagram Profile, Check out Pitocin Highlights There
Our Monthly Membership
Our Weekly Newsletter
Our Childbirth Education Course, use code RADIANT10 for 10% off
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to catch every episode. Follow us on Instagram for extra education and antics between episodes at: @beautifulonemidwifery
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to catch every episode. Follow us on Instagram for extra education and antics between episodes at: @beautifulonemidwifery
Welcome to at Home with Kelly and Tiffany, where we share powerful tools, exciting education, and relatable views about holistic health, physiological birth, and thriving in the female body. We are home birth midwives in sunny San Diego. Passionate about the alternatives that give women control and confidence in health, in birth and in life. We've poured a lot of love into creating very in depth and high value offerings. A monthly membership, a physiological birth course, and holistic guides for the women who really want to dive all the way in. But this podcast. We want to bring zero cost information about health and natural birth and make these important topics accessible always. Your support of the show is also zero cost and means everything to us. When you leave a review, share an episode and join our newsletter. It really helps us keep this space open, ad free and full of honest, valuable conversations. Now let's dive into today's show.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Welcome back to the at home with Kelly and Tiffany podcast. I am Kelly.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:And I'm Tiffany.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:And today we are talking about potentially one of the more controversial topics. That we actually really love to share about on social media in particular. And we talk a ton about in our childbirth education class, just because it kind of breaks the mold it, it talks about something very important in a way that is not being given truthfully to women, especially who are in labor. And so yes, so we are talking about the actual differences between Pitocin the synthetic version of our wonderful hormone friend, oxytocin. So we're putting them kind of side by side talking about them and talking about why it matters that they are actually different. And clapping back at some people who like to chirp at us on our social media about this topic.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:It's like fascinating that we haven't done an episode on this specifically just because it generates so much conversation. And what's great is that on social media, we have to temper all the things with other people's interactions and responses. And on the podcast we don't, we just get to say what we wanna say.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:in long form right? We get to say we get to actually talk about it versus here are the amount of characters that you can put in your caption. And here's the seven seconds that you can, you know, put something on your reel, whatever. So this is great to be able to, you know, process some things.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:okay. Before we jump in, we have a really great review from Little Birds. Little, I think like little birds. Five star, five star review, stellar podcast even for moms who Work. So listen up. We are hitting multiple demographics here, ladies. She says, I've been following beautiful one on Instagram for a few years since they popped up on my feed as we do after having three babies in three different hospitals and OB practices, I found myself expecting again nine years later.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Wow.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:A second marriage. Having been on a holistic health journey as a therapist and health coach for over 10 years, I knew I needed to birth. I knew I needed birth to be different. The fourth time around living on the East coast, receiving care from beautiful one was not an option, but their information was incredibly helpful and encouraging, and I was fortunate enough to deliver my fourth at home with a wonderful local midwife practice. Fast forward four years and I'm 42. I will be delivering at age 43 and expecting my sixth little one. I have been listening to the at home with Kelly and Tiffany podcast and I am loving all the content, birth related and non-birth related. Stellar information, stellar delivery, and I am still learning a lot despite being a veteran mom and having birth naturally a few times. I've even sent my husband a few of their episodes and he enjoyed them.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Let's go.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:eight. With eight kids total and full-time jobs. Podcasts are not a high priority, are not high on my priority list, but I can't get enough of this one. Well done ladies.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Oh, that gave me goosebumps. That's like
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:Thanks Little Birds.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Yeah. That's really special. Thank you so much for taking the time to share. But then hopefully that encourages other women too, right? Like our journeys. Just that right where you started or decisions you made prior. Don't need to be the same ones that you do moving into the future. And we should be always open to more information and education and all of it. That's beautiful.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:And it actually, that, that kind of segues almost for me because I've been talking to somebody on Instagram recently who, this woman who has. She, her pregnancies go really late for her and she always gets induced around 42 weeks and then ends up having Pitocin throughout most of her labor and postpartum time, and so she's can my body even do it? At this point, I think she's said she's had four or five like inductions or something maybe. Something like that. And she's is my, can my body even do it? Is it even capable? And I'm like, oh, this is a great question. I think, of course, but you need, there's some things that have to change.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Yeah, so I'm super excited to kind of get into this a little bit more. We're diving into this whole topic, right? That's going to affect honestly every single woman who's having a baby, whether you realize it or not. This idea of Pitocin versus oxytocin, obviously they sound similar. They're given to women. When, you know, when Pitocin is given to women, oftentimes it's called oxytocin also. So they obviously sound similar. They are not the same. And understanding the difference can actually really impact your birth experience, your postpartum journey, and even the connection that you have with your baby.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:Yeah, and the fascinating thing about sharing this information on Instagram so far is that it just makes like all of these medical, scientific people come out of the woodwork and you can. Just hop on our Instagram and go look at our Pitocin content every time we share on it that, that it's not the same. And why? People wanna come and argue with us about the molecular structure of Pitocin and chemistry pieces. And gosh, we're such idiots.'cause we don't understand how these molecules interact in the body. It is exactly the same, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's every single. Male medi, like first year medical student wants to come and explain things to us. And there was, there's actually one reel and this one's from a couple years ago, but it's probably my favorite, where there were like lots of metaphors that were given to us and the comments to help us understand how somebody was comparing like Pitocin to like a salad and like a hamburger and I was. Just really blown away by the demonstration of trying to help us understand how they are exactly the same. And it's just, I'm like, okay. Even if scientifically something, appears to be different than reality. We are, which it's not. There is a scientific explanation and we'll get into that. But just dealing with a hot topic like this where there seems to be like very different ways of going about it. We need to listen to women first. It doesn't matter at all what the study says. It doesn't matter at all what we can prove scientifically. We need to look and listen to women's experiences and validate those and discuss those and make those our primary resources of information. And when women say, I had this experience with Pitocin and it was like this, and then I had an experience without Pitocin, and it was like that. We, we say, yes, that's true. Your experience is true. And when we have hundreds and thousands of women who are saying the same thing, we listen to them. So that is that's our takeaway. If you don't like what we're saying so far, just turn the episode off and go listen to something else that is gonna make you feel better about stuff. But when we poll our audience about who has had Pitocin used in labor and or in their postpartum, 60% of women have been given Pitocin. 60% of the women who, you know, responded to this poll. And so the overarching concept here. About Pitocin versus oxytocin really is about understanding physiology. So we're not necessarily pitting the molecular structures against themselves. It's about what is our body already doing on its own? How can we support physiology? That's what we think is the the standard for birth, especially like natural birth is the physiological process. And we want labor to flow and move along. And so. The only way that happens is with oxytocin flowing, and for oxytocin to flow birth needs to be a really intentional sacred. Sanctuary type experience, not an observational or stage or performative experience. And so understanding those two pieces and how like physiology versus a non physiological process as we're trying to make sense of how they how Pitocin and oxytocin work in our bodies. That's kinda like the framework that we're using for this.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Yeah, absolutely. So we can jump into what oxytocin is. What Pitocin is, right? And kind of understanding the differences on this, like very basic level, right? So. Oxytocin, you've heard of it before. I am certain. It's also called like the love hormone, right? It happens when we are connected. It's a hormone of connection in particular, and it's naturally produced by the body. And so you'll notice times in your life where you just are starting to feel really connected, really happy, really just in your own body, thankful. Like all of these pieces where you just feel safe, right? And connected with the people or person that you are with at the time. So those peaks of oxytocin happened during loving touch times of connection. I mean, even just like sharing a meal with friends kind of thing around a table and everybody's laughing, lots of oxytocin happening. Sex huge peaks, right? Orgasm, like kind of the ultimate peak in a lot of ways, right? But it also is a naturally produced. Peak hormone during labor and during birth and during breastfeeding, which makes sense, right? Lots of love, lots of connection happening during those times. And that again, is what, when your body is trying to create more so that those events and those experiences are felt and moved along and all of that in the way that they were designed to.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:Yeah. And when we talk about hormonal cascade, it really does start with oxytocin. And oxytocin continues to build. It releases other hormones. It helps your nervous system regulate. It helps to, you know, do lots of really beautiful things. But the mechanism in labor specifically is. Triggering rhythmic uterine contractions, supporting the cervix to soften and open. It helps facilitate you being connected to the experience and being willing to bond to the people who are helping you and help you trust the situation that you're in. It helps to reduce stress and keep like other, you know, stress hormones like adrenaline at bay. It also helps to, help you like manage the sensations and the the adapt your adaptability and resiliency to handle the physical and emotional pieces of labor too. So, oxytocin peaks when a woman feels safe, when she feels unobserved, when she feels undisturbed and oxytocin works best in the same environment that is. Supporting intimacy. So there's a reason that it's a connection hormone, a love hormone. So we say you know, your birth should be set up in the way that you would potentially have physical intimacy with your partner, who would you who should be involved in that process besides just the two of you? And keeping it sacred, keeping it private. So we want like dim lights, lots of privacy, soft voices, feeling like the people around you are safe. Not feeling like you're being watched. And just being able to lean in to that and having the tools available and the planning pieces in place to make you feel. Like oxytocin can flow and do its job for you in labor.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:And, this is one of the many reasons why we talk about making these decisions about your labor and your birth, like well before your labor and birth actually happen, right? Because if we're wanting to encourage oxytocin, if we're wanting to, you know, h help this hormonal cascade along. Some of those decisions that you're making, you know, months in advance about who you're inviting into your birth and where you are birthing actually do play, you know, a big role. And so I know we kind of like continuously say these things, but that's because again, that it matters and it can impact again, so much about about your experience. So oxytocin, super sweet. We love it. Love hormone, all of that good stuff. Now we have Pitocin on the other side, right? Pitocin is, it was derived from oxytocin. It is a synthetic version of it. It's most commonly administered in iv. It can also be, you know, put into like your leg via shot kind of thing. But the most common administration is through an IV and. The most common reasons it is used is to induce labor, right? So to start contractions.'cause the idea is, oh, if oxytocin is what moves labor along, then Pitocin, we can create that and we can just kind of force the issue. So to induce labor. To augment labor somehow, usually that is because contractions have slowed down or are non-existent anymore, and they're saying, we need to have this baby, right? And so saying again, Hey, let's. Let's put this let's kinda trick your body into thinking it has oxytocin by giving you some of this pitocin, right? And then also a very common time for women to have Pitocin is right after the birth of your baby, but before the birth of your placenta. So helping to deliver the placenta. Or control postpartum bleeding. Those would be the most commonly used times. And honestly, that 60% of women who were polled in our Instagram poll is less for sure than just because we have an interesting amount of followers who, you know, who are having home births and things like that. And so it's probably different percentages in terms of hospital use for sure.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:Yeah, and like I think the biggest piece that is the most confusing to, to people is that endogenous oxytocin that you produce in your own body crosses the blood brain barrier. And Pitocin, the synthetic form that is given to you does not cross the blood-brain barrier. And so it has different effects. It does similar. Things in labor, the physical mechanisms, but it doesn't interact with the hormones quite the same. It actually like blocks some natural hormone. Action in your body. It interrupts the receptors. It can make your natural oxytocin receptors like over flooded so that it doesn't, so that you're not making oxytocin because it recognizes this. This synthetic version in your body and can cause it can cause some complications and such. And we see that in the literature that is really scientifically clear that Pitocin can be misused and does have, you know, some negative consequences and side effects. But Pitocin doesn't trigger that love and bonding and emotional connection that natural oxytocin does. That would be really interesting if it did, but it's because it doesn't cross the blood brain barrier, so it's not interacting with us psychologically and emotionally. It overrides natural oxy oxytocin production. So, even though it has a short shelf life and once you come off of it, it can, it can definitely leave your body pretty quickly and allow you to start creating your own oxytocin again. It's still an interruption in that process, and so we kind of lose the cascade. When we think of a ca we're using the term cascade because it's like a, it's like a waterfall, right? That's like just continuing to gain speed as the water's falling and there's more and more volume, and as it's going, it's catching and it's pretty much unstoppable, but you can stop this cascade. And Pitocin is one of the ways that you can do that. Experiencing, you know, fear, experiencing tension in your body. All of those can like, kind of halt the cascade too. So important pieces to be paying attention to. And Pitocin can increase pain without the natural. Pain buffering of oxytocin. So endogenous, natural oxytocin happening in our body is the part of helping protect us and help us like integrate the experience of the physical sensations of labor. It's actually a really cool part of handling labor and being able to, and women who can look back and go, I have absolutely no idea how I did that. It was your hormones helping you. So when we pause that, it can make. Your labor contractions feel even more uncomfortable, especially if they're being synthetically produced. So we're putting Pitocin in you. Yes. It's really interesting how it can land on those same receptors and create contractions, but they're not the same natural pulsing that are happening with endogenous. Oxytocin, and so your body responds to it differently and you lose the protective mechanism of everything kind of working synergistically together. Pitocin often creates stronger, more intense contractions than the body would naturally generate, and because of those stronger, more intense contractions. That is potentially keeping blood flow from being able to move as freely as it would if you were having more natural contractions. And sometimes there's less rest there. And so that's what happens when a baby goes into distress in a situation with. Pitocin being administered either too high or for too long periods of time is it's an oxygenation issue. And so the uterus, when it's clamping down, just naturally a part of the process, the normal process even slows down blood flow. But when it's happening really strong. Really close together and for a really long period of time, experiencing that intensity. It's not natural. It's not what our bodies were designed to be able to tolerate. And oftentimes we see issues with the baby's heart rate in response to that. And so usually Pitocin, I mean always Pitocin in this kind of situation when it's being used for induction or labor augmentation to kind of keep labor going. It needs to be, you need to be highly monitored because of this risk issue with the baby. And it's almost always in a hospital centered birth setting. That's, this is not something that we would use at home or at a birth center, any place that doesn't have access to immediate emergency equipment because of the unpredictability piece of keeping the baby safe. So then you're on monitoring, continuous monitoring with the administer. Of Pitocin and you are being watched and monitored for basically trying to get the maximum amount of effects with, in reducing the risk to your baby. And there's also risk to you and your, you know, physical self with uterine rupture and you know, different things that can go on in your body too with too much Pitocin so even though it's very common. We have to look at the fact that because it can only be used in a high risk environment, it sh and it's being treated as a high risk piece because then all of a sudden you need all of this extra monitoring and such like that. Sh we need to like have an alarm bell going off in our heads about that. Like now we're turn, we're turning this into a really. Intense medical event. So Pitocin does stimulate the uterus, but it doesn't activate the rest of that cascade. That helps you to labor intuitively to bond with your baby to stay calm and grounded, and that is what women report. It is just not the same experience. Their ability to cope and deal and even just integrate the experience is completely different.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Yeah. And it's wild because this is easily one of the more common you know, interventions that are given to women. And that part What was what you just went over. Is never a part of the conversation. It is never a part of, it's almost, it's just so rare to get true informed decision making of, you know, revolving around this because it's given in such a way of oh no, it's just like oxytocin. We're just gonna help you along a little bit. This is what the re you know, this is just what we're gonna do basically. And, gosh, it matters. It matters a ton, and we're not trying to be fear-based by sharing this. We are just trying to give the information so that then you can move forward with your labor, your postpartum, with eyes wide open as you are making whatever decision you know that needs to be made in the moment. So, of course, pitocin can be incredibly helpful. We are thankful that they figured out a way to as closely mimic oxytocin as they could. Obviously, they can't fully, because it doesn't do a. Everything that Oxytocin does that we just went over. But it can be lifesaving when it's used appropriately. So we are not bashing the use of it. I even shared a little bit ago on, on Instagram about, you know, routine oxytocin usage, and people were like, well, I had a, I was hemorrhaging and Pitocin really helped me, you know, whatever. And I'm like, yes. So that's not routine, right? That is a useful, you know, way to utilize this drug. But for things like hemorrhage, high risk situations, truly stalled, labors, things like that, it can actually be helpful, right? It is a helpful tool in your toolbox to move forward in the healthiest way possible. But the key here, like I mentioned, is truly informed consent. If you are consenting to it, not fear-based, not routine usage. This is what we always do, right? If, and or you could say, Hey, I know everything. I've heard these things. I've researched it a little bit. You're routine usage actually sounds good to me. I'm willing to do that. Okay, great. You are informed and you are consenting to that. But if you're listening to this and being like, huh. That's what, you know, my hospital does, that's what my provider does just routinely. That's what makes them feel safer. Interesting. That doesn't me make me feel safer. So what do I want to do about it? Or how do I want to approach this? What decisions do I need to make surrounding that, right? And that is. That is a good place to find yourself in control of those types of decisions. But if you do find your place or find yourself in a place where you need to choose Pitocin or you need truly need Pitocin. You can talk to your provider even beforehand, right? About, okay, so here's some questions, right? What's the lowest effective dose that you can use for this, for that particular situation, right? We don't have to throw everything at it all at once. You know, how can I kind slowly enter into utilizing. If you are like, okay, yes, I do need to use this, you can still, you know, bring yourself back to physiology in the places where you can, right? Using your breath while, you know, while you're contracting, using movement Support your body just to help integrate the experience slowly, right? All of those things that you would normally do, even without it will still be helpful and meaningful and supportive of what your body is doing. And then again, back to that idea of restoring physiology as much as possible. We want to do that as much as possible, as quickly as possible and emphasize that in as many ways as we possibly can so we can support natural oxytocin in birth, even when. You have to utilize Pitocin or even afterwards, right? As your body is kind of like working through it. And so I think that's a really helpful thing to remember because it's not all or nothing. It's not black and white. It's not, oh, everything is out the window now that I have, now that I'm utilizing this. You can still support your body if doing so. So Tiff, I'd love to hear some of the things that you recommend in terms of, you know, especially like our lives as doulas for so long, supporting women in this situation. You know, just to kind of help that natural oxytocin while still utilizing Pitocin where necessary.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:Yeah, like we can, we have control over the lighting. We can still keep the light stem. We can put soothing music on, we can use warm water. We can have just the presence of people who love us around us. Even, you know, like our partner or some other companion, like a doula or a midwife, you can still you can, you still have control over those people in your environment. You can still be reminded of trust in your body and. That comes along with having a really great birth team who's gonna reinforce that, having education beforehand. So even when an intervention is necessary, you're still going to be able to facilitate as much oxytocin production as possible and then avoiding stressful interruptions in your labor, avoiding unnecessary cervical checks, avoiding all those things that we know that take you out of that place of being able to like really focus and lean into the physiological parts of labor that we're not making these recommendations in just because they feel nice and it gives you something to do and looks nice in the pictures. Like it's because of physiology. It's'cause we want to do things and it's not always natural to lean towards physiology. That's why you need people around you that you trust to remind you of those things. Because there's plenty of times where we've been in a labor that is dysfunctional for some reason and the mom is not intuitively saying. I need all these people to get out of my room. I need to go be in a dark closet somewhere. I need you to stop talking to me. And I need to just have headphones in with nice music. It's not always instinctual and intuitive for multiple reasons. It's a whole different episode. And so you need to have a plan, and you need to have people around you who are reminding you of let's lean into the physiological pieces of your labor as much as possible, no matter what the circumstances are.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Yeah, absolutely. And if what that's so true, whether you're having Pitocin or not, all of those things are still just going to help encourage oxytocin or going to encourage, you know, connection to the experience and all of that. So on Pitocin, you can still do those things off of Pitocin trying to, you know, encourage oxytocin just naturally. It's great to be able to utilize, you know, these tools in your toolbox. So oxytocin in particular, right? We're trying to encourage it. We're trying to do all of those things. Oxytocin will continue to help you, not only just through labor, encouraging your labor pattern, all of that, but also postpartum. And it's one of the reasons that we care so much about physiology during labor itself and supporting all of those natural pieces for your body. Because you know, after you birth your baby, you may think oh, labor's like the really. Crazy part. Yes. That's, there's a lot. But the clinically speaking, there's a lot that can happen in between having your baby and birthing your placenta and oxytocin is a huge help in that stage. If we are able to preserve it, if we're able to encourage it, it's gonna help expel your placenta. It's gonna help reduce your bleeding. It's gonna help you see your baby and be like, oh my gosh, this is the best baby that has ever been born in the history of babies. I love this baby so much. It's gonna help produce, you know, milk your let down your breastfeeding success in general. And so. Oxytocin does matter a whole heck of a lot, right? And Pitocin isn't going to support that hormonal harmony piece and high dose Pitocin especially, you know, longer use too. It can even cause more hemorrhaging. It can cause more bleeding postpartum. It can mess with that early. Rhythm of establishing breastfeeding and bonding sequences that happen. Short-term issues, long-term issues for mental health stuff too. 37% of the people that we, you know, polled on Instagram said that they experienced some kind of adverse effect during postpartum from using Pitocin. And so I shared, you know, somebody's experience too on there a while ago about. You know, I birthed physiologically and then I was given Pitocin without even being spoken to. And I you know, didn't realize it until after the fact, but was like, why do I feel like I'm not even in the room with this baby? Why do I feel like I'm another person watching this? She felt kind of dissociated not connecting with her baby in that time until, you know, kind of ran through her body and she was able to, you know, backtrack and figure that out and be like, huh, that was fascinating, that it wasn't even on her radar. And she had that kind of experience. And so, again, not fear-based, but trying to say physiology matters so much and the design is created as such to, you know, create this experience for you and for your baby to set you up in a way that makes sense for your connection, your baby's survival, even all of that, right? And that again, it matters.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:Yeah. And so, it's important to, like we said, listen to other people's stories, understand what women are saying about their own experiences. We asked our Instagram audience to share about some of their experiences with both, with oxytocin, with Pitocin because it helps connect the information when we get to hear it in story, when we get to hear women's actual experiences. It helps connect the information to, like you being able to apply it to your life. It just makes it so much more applicable and. We collected a variety of experiences when we asked women for this, and so I think that's really important to hear. But when we first asked women, Hey, what did you do? So now, so knowing about oxytocin, knowing about physiological birth, knowing what supports that, what does that look like in real life? I mean, we all say dim the lights and put on music and make things nice around you, but what did you actually do? And so, our audience said, having my husband hold me. Having sex in early labor having a birth playlist prepared ahead of time, talking about my feelings nipple stimulation, having scripture and affirmations around me, putting on Netflix fireplace, cuddling with my older children, having things stay completely quiet, staying home sleeping, and napping when possible. My husband being very hands on, only looking at and making eye contact with those who were there to encourage me. This, the, this is like that practicality of keeping oxy, keeping oxytocin at like the forefront of your labor plan. That's like what some of those things can look like. And it's not gonna be one of those things. It's gonna be having a plan for multiple pieces and everything around you kind of just continuing to support that hormonal cascade.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Yeah. And again, that doesn't guarantee like the easiest, smoothest, you know, most comfortable labor, right? But we see what oxytocin can do and how to encourage it. And for a provider to say Pitocin is the same as oxytocin is just a lie because we also pulled women to say Hey, just give us some of your experiences with. Pitocin and these things would, you know, are different in terms of how the body responds, right? So there's a few of these. Pitocin was recommended with hemorrhaging, but I latched my baby instead and it stopped, boom on it for over 24 hours in labor and had a huge hemorrhage, which is what we spoke about a little bit before. One shot got my placenta out when I started hemorrhaging. We have seen that happen at home as well. Tried for stalled labor and baby did not tolerate it well, which ended in cesarean. Unnecessary induction that was awful and hard with difficulty breastfeeding and postpartum depression and anxiety. Worth it for transfer for help, you know, from a home birth into a hospital birth with stalled labor and got a vaginal birth. Smallest dose of it after epidural nap to get labor going again. Used for postpartum hemorrhage and had a rough start with breastfeeding which we heard before again as well. First labor used in hospital and second for postpartum at home for placenta. I asked to be induced with it, but it was awful given postpartum without consent and thankfully no adverse effects, but I would have declined. Caused fetal distress with first that resulted in three more cesarean contractions like transition with no breaks. And so we see how it can be useful and we see how it can absolutely derail some things here. We can see how oxytocin helps encourage some of these pieces that potentially Pitocin came in to support. And we can see again how Pitocin can. Impact things negatively as well. So being able to say Pitocin and oxytocin are the same thing again, flat out lie. And we can, even if research didn't show that we can read these things and say these are a tiny amount of what has happened for women who have had this experience, have these experiences as well. And so it matters for you to be aware of the differences. Again, some of these. So thankful, right? That they were able to have it and that it did what it needed to do. And some of these, they look back and think man, I wish, you know, a different decision had been made in that moment.
tiffany_1_08-07-2025_091556:Yeah, and I think like the difference really is that oxytocin represents this built-in design, this built-in wisdom that your body is already going to do when it's well supported, and Pitocin is a tool. It doesn't need to be considered. We don't need to say like it's bad or good. It has pros and cons of it, right? Oxytocin in our body doesn't have cons. There's nothing to weigh out. There isn't like the pros and cons of naturally flowing oxytocin in our body. It's always good, and Pitocin is a tool that can be used sometimes, but we need to have a really specific reason because it does interfere with what is naturally happening in our body. And so. We wanna be able to approach birth from the perspective of supporting the entire system. And that's why holistic birth prep is so important. We're looking at like, where are you at mentally? Where is your body at? Where are you you know, at and your soul and your spirituality and your social, you know, constructs around you and your home and. You know, all of those pieces, they really matter. Pitocin is just like this single function hormone stand-in. I call it like a Marauder. It just comes in Hey, I'm here to save the day. And then it like, you know, like a bulled China shop kind of. And this. Is the, this is the whole point of understanding physiological birth. When we talk about physiological birth, we are talking about this hormonal cascade, what your body knows how to do on its own without disturbance. It's a good design. We can trust in that to start with as a foundation and kind of see what happens in your situation as an individual. And then we can pivot when it's necessary. But we can start with the foundation of physiology and. That is why good childbirth education should emphasize this throughout every single thing that is shared. Because it is so foundational, it's so important. We need to unlearn harmful birth culture norms. From this educational perspective and preparing for birth, connecting to that good design and understanding it in a way that allows you to trust it. And then understanding the supportive pieces and strategies of navigating that In modern birth culture, no matter how it is that you are going to experience your setting and your provider and your team and those things like this is applicable in every single one of those. Places. So you guys know, in our holistic birth course, we emphasize that in every single piece of education, how to activate your natural oxytocin flow for an easier and instinctual labor. How to avoid the con, the cascade of interventions by supporting your body's physiology, how to create a birth environment that protects that hormonal piece, that like really essential foundational blueprint of what your body wants. To do when it's well supported. How to make confident informed decisions without fear or pressure. So when it comes time to pivot, when it comes time to consider an alternative, you have the tools that you need to go, okay, I understand this is the foundation, this is the goal. This is, you know, sometimes the. The event that we have on the pedestal, not everybody is going to have an experience that is ideal to what their, what that foundational piece is. So then how do you pivot inside of that and how do you advocate for yourself and make the best decision moving forward without feeling like you've lost control over all the pieces, right? And then how to navigate birth with evidence-based strategies. Holistic wisdom and allowing those pieces to kind of like coincide and have the ability to say, I understand this is what my body is meant to do. It's not what is currently happening right now. How do I wisely bring in some of those pieces? Or how do I restore physiology? How do I get back to helping my body pick up, you know, where we left off? And being able to navigate all of those pieces. So. You'll find our childbirth education link in the show notes as always, that is available to you guys. It's one of the ways that we are able to really bring practicality and action and this philosophy into individual women's experiences, and it's a huge part of our passion for sharing education and information like this. So another thing that I wanna include in our show notes. Is our Pitocin highlight on Instagram because we spent a lot of time building up the research there that says why Pitocin is not the same as oxytocin. And also some of the research and scientific pieces about the risks of Pitocin and how to try to, you know, navigate that and avoid that. So you have the arsenal of scientific research also to try to avoid some of the pitfalls of Pitocin. Guys.
kelly_1_08-07-2025_091557:Yeah, hopefully this just feels a great foundational place for you then to be like, oh, light bulbs coming off and recognizing how important some of these decisions, how important some of these deep dives that you can do because you are the one in charge. How that can impact not only your birth, but then your postpartum experience, all of that. I see that as such a cool opportunity for women to like, take control of and to really own rather than the mounting pressure that feels like it might be on top of you. You can have some freedom in research and understanding what your options are, and again, making informed decisions. So hopefully this again, serves as some encouragement. Check the show notes for all the other good stuff and we will catch you next week.
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