Oxytocin, a medication given to stimulate labor is also used to prevent hemorrhage or bleeding after birth. New research is showing that using oxytocin regularly after natural birth reduces the total amount of blood loss and reduces the risk of hemorrhage.
You can read more about this in the article New Training for Doctors to Reduce Postpartum Bleeding, which also discusses the efforts to reduce episiotomies, or the surgical cutting of tissue between the vagina and the anus in an attempt to prevent tearing as the baby is born.
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Bleeding after giving birth, hemorrhaging, can cause death. When a woman gives birth in a hospital or an environment where a hospital is easily reached, the problem is most often solved by giving medication to tighten up the uterus to stop the bleeding and by giving blood transfusions, if needed.
Unfortunately, not all mothers have access to this type of care, be it a woman in a remote area of North America or a woman in rural Africa. In these situations, the mothers may die.
There’s an interesting new invention called the LifeWrap, which is like a pair of shock pants …read more