Pain Free Birth #91 | Oxytocin, Epidurals, and the Truth About Physiological Birth with Dr. Sarah Buckley
What if labor wasn’t random? What if bonding isn’t luck? What if your brain is biologically designed to change in birth?
In this profound and science-rich conversation, Karen sits down with Dr. Sarah Buckley, family physician, researcher, and pioneer in physiological birth, to unpack the true hormonal science of labor and postpartum.
Dr. Buckley has spent decades studying oxytocin, the primary hormone of labor, bonding, and breastfeeding. In this episode, she explains how birth activates the brain’s reward and pleasure centers, how oxytocin creates maternal bonding, and why feeling safe during labor is not emotional fluff. It’s biological necessity.
This episode bridges the gap between science and spirituality, physiology and experience proving that ecstatic birth is not fantasy. It is mammalian biology.
Tune in to hear:
- How oxytocin changes the maternal brain during labor
- What actually causes bonding between mother and baby
- The neuroscience behind the “birth high”
- Why safety is essential for oxytocin release
- How synthetic oxytocin works differently in the body
- The surprising research findings on Pitocin and oxytocin levels
- How epidurals impact the oxytocin feedback loop
- Why some women miss the hormonal peak at birth
- What happens hormonally during cesarean birth
- How skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding can “fill hormonal gaps”
- Why birth is a relational experience, not an engineering event
- The mammalian design behind maternal transformation
- How to protect your physiology in hospital birth settings
Connect with Dr. Buckley:
Website: www.sarahbuckley.com
FB: @DrSarahBuckley
IG: @DrSarahJBuckley
Twitter: @Sarahjbuckley
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Use code PODCAST to get $50 off the Pain Free Birth E-course HERE