Pitocin and Bonding

During a recent laundry folding session I finally saw the end of "The Business of Being Born". It affected me differently now that I had my idyllic home birth than when I was watching it the first time while pregnant. When I reached the part that talked about how pitocin can interfere with bonding I realized why. My second birth experience was a typical hospital birth. I had few birth options in the area where we lived, and the furthest I could get from an OB/GYN was a practice hosting a dozen or so midwives who could only be seen at random. Labor began as an on and off affair early in the morning. Contractions would start and hurt, then after a few hours ease and go away. We worked our way to the hospital in the evening via the mall where we stopped to buy the new baby a toy. I had to stop a number of times in the mall and breath through contractions. We got to the hospital at 9pm. After determining I was 4 centimeters dilated, I was given two Tylenol, and told to wait until morning. My water was broken when the morning shift was ready to get to work. My carefully orchestrated, multiple-position birth plan went out the window soon into the birth procedure. Nurses told me I was welcome to push aside beeping instruments and hop off the high, railed, inclined bed in my hiney-baring gown between fetal monitoring episodes. Gee, thanks. Within hours of my water being broken pitocin was begun. A few hours later I was still on my back unable to move because contractions were right on top of each other, and I had only progressed to 7 centimeters. I told Todd it was time for IV pain medication. When I was struggling with Evan's birth this was the thing that relaxed me enough to get him out. Wouldn't you know it within 30 minutes of receiving a calming drug in a crazy unfamiliar environment Nina was born. The last thing I remember before lapsing into an exhausted sleep was seeing Nina across the room on a table with a light over it. She was surrounded by nurses I didn't know doing some routine thing that was somehow more vital than leaving me with my baby. I always knew that it took me two weeks to really bond with my new baby. I attributed it to having a toddler and a baby at home. I never experience any post-partum depression with any of my babies. This was due in part to the fact that I made a deal with myself after moaning and groaning my way through pregnancy that I had better be grateful when it was over. Following Cory's completely successful, totally perfect birth and experiencing the pure elation I felt after it, I looked differently at that two week period. Watching the documentary again and looking into the matter further has virtually convinced me of the profound difference between the synthetic and natural hormones.
The information I have found lists the typical cautions about labor augmented by pitocin. These are the fact that pitocin is administered in a continual drip whereas the natural hormone oxytocin is delivered in waves from the brain, giving the body time to rest. Because oxytocin emanates from the brain it sets in play brain functions that act as a morphine type blocker of pain, which is why pitocin contractions tend to hurt more and require synthetic pain reliever to endure. The stress to the baby with these powerful unnatural contractions and to the mother lead to many complications, and often further interventions. The information I was most interested in was the idea that natural oxytocin when it courses out of the brain provides a sense of trust and love that promotes bonding. Oxytocin is beginning to be called the love hormone for it's affects in birth, breast-feeding and even sex. This was the missing piece. I experienced the bonding in a muted, delayed fashion after Evan's birth. I reveled in the explosion of well-being I felt after Cory's birth, and I never got that head start with Nina. Only after two weeks of breast-feeding had I gained the closeness I had lost due to exposure to pitocin.
For me the affect was minimal, and Nina and I recovered with no harm done. But I wonder, if it is true that pitocin can inhibit bonding in the way it absolutely seemed to do in my case, what could that mean to a future generation so dependent on it? What does that mean for the low income mothers that have no choice but to go with the provider medicaid dictates who is likely to be a habitual pitocin user. Then they are provided with free formula via WIC so there is no need for them to attempt to breast feed therefore stifling any chance oxytocin has of promoting natural bonding. Combine this with the daily stress and disadvantaged upbringing that many of the poor are burdened with and where does that leave their children?
I look forward to what science can determine about this link or the lack thereof. In the meantime I hope we don't look at birth with the same cold eyes as an elementary dissection. We know love is not a luxury to a baby and a child, and I believe we ought to invest in allowing every mother to feel as much connection to her offspring as she can for her own sake, but especially for that of our future generation.

You may want to check out these links for more information:
Birthing Naturally
Oxytocin:Wikipedia
5 ways Pitocin is Different than Oxytocin
These are just the beginning. Keep looking and see what you might find.