The objective of this study was to investigate any relationships between maternal and fetal catecholamine levels and clinical labour outcomes. Patients were a subgroup of healthy primigravid women who were enrolled for a randomized controlled trial of labour companionship and who had blood samples for catecholamines at delivery. Norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. There were no significant correlations between the maternal and fetal catecholamine levels and labour duration. Fetuses who had umbilical artery base excess < -10 had significantly higher epinephrine (p = 0.03) and dopamine (p = 0.02) levels and those who had a pH less than 7.2 had significantly higher dopamine (p = 0.02) levels. These results confirm a high fetal catecholamine response to hypoxia.