"tokiko is 9 months pregnant and her doctor just gave her a dose of a synthetic oxytocin. why would a doctor administer this at the end of her pregnancy? "

Synthetic oxytocin is a clear liquid containing man-made oxytocin, one of the hormones that plays a vital in the labor process, which is being injected in a mother's body if she's having problems in doing labor.

The doctor gave Tokiko a dose inorder to aid her in the labor process, as she was nearing to give birth. It could be that labour has not started naturally or her uterus is too weak to push the baby out. The oxytocin injected in her body is to strengthen the contraction of her uterus.

The dose of the medicine is adjusted until the contractions produced are in a similar pattern to that of natural labour.

However, this medicine, as beneficial as it seems, could case side effects which could affect both the mother and baby in different ways. Allergy attacks, headaches, nausea and vomiting are commonly observed after intake. Too much dose could cause very strong contractions of the womb that could result in tearing of the womb or tissue damage. It could also result in distress, suffocation or death of the baby.