what causes...

No one knows,

the main theroies are adrenaline, hormones and lowering of core temp. take your pick

I think its becuse there are just so many physical and emotional changes going on. its best just to distract them in conversation or movment and the shakes will pass and then coem back. always tell them "dotn try not to shake, it makes it worse"

If the shakes/shivers occur post epidural I have had success if I can get the patient to yawn. Shivers/shakes and yawns are both carried on the sympathetic or parasympathetic I can't remember which, but forcing one to happen causes the other to stop, at least for a while. It is usually best to get everyone in the room to yawn as you know how contagious yawning is! If it is 7 cm shaking in an unmedicated pt, good luck getting them to yawn.

I think the more you try to stop the shakes the more you shake. Been there done that :)

Wow! That explains a lot for me... .as an L&D patient 2 months ago, I had the shakes sooooo bad once I entered transition. It was uncontrollable and somewhat embarassing but my sweet nurse kept reassuring me all was fine. I thought it was from the epidural but it's interesting to hear otherwise.

As a pt I had the "post delivery" shakes. As a nurse I've seen shaking at all stages of labor and post. I wish someone would do a study or something to clear up the why!

I remember reading somewhere that the transition shakes and the post delivery shakes are natures way to prepare for the blood loss of delivery. The woman vasoconstricts and sends blood to the vital organs to protect in case of PPH,,,makes sense.