The Wonder of Birth

Finally the long-awaited moment arrives. As a woman pushes her child out into the world, her body courses with oxytocin, the same hormone that produces orgasms during lovemaking. In addition, her body is flooded by morphine-like hormones, called endorphins, which help her relax and feel close to her baby. This is the beginning of the emotional bond a mother forges with her baby. This process is also aided by high levels of adrenaline that flood both a mother's and her baby's bodies at the time of delivery. These wonderful adrenal hormones not only help a mother to push and strain, they also cause her baby to be wide awake and alert at birth.

Why is this critical? According to French obstetrician Michel Odent, "Mothers are fascinated by the gaze of their newborn babies. It seems this eye-to-eye contact is an important feature of the beginning of the mother-baby relationship, which probably helps the release of the love hormone, oxytocin."

I get excited whenever I am around newborns; not only are they gorgeous, but they also give testimony to the very existence of God. Who can ever doubt the presence of a loving Father when holding a new baby, stroking his silky-soft skin and seeing his tiny but perfect fingers and toes? The Mastermind of the universe has orchestrated all of this. Birth is a beautiful experience.

Recently I visited a young friend in the hospital just two hours after she had given birth to her first baby and witnessed all of those hormones in action. After 14 hours of labor, this new mother was holding court to family and friends and proudly displaying her gorgeous new son. Expecting her to be exhausted, I saw that Leyla's eyes were bright and alive. She never took her eyes off her baby. When others held him, Leyla was a she-bear of protectiveness, commanding family members to wash their hands and sit down before they could touch her baby. I knew that she would soon collapse, but for those few marvelous hours Leyla was queen of all she surveyed. She was awash with strange and powerful feelings she could not possibly have anticipated. While important psychological work and physical exhaustion lay just ahead for Leyla, for the moment all was new and glorious. She had become a mother.

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