Is orgasmic birth possible?

Yes!

I spoke to a midwife recently who had said many of her colleagues have heard of orgasmic birth but not many have witnessed it. Maybe the reason is some ladies simply don’t mention it to their midwives because they are caught up in the beautiful moments after labour with their new baby.

So, what causes women to orgasm in labour? How can a woman orgasm when labour is so painful?
I have some ideas through my own experience.

This is my orgasmic birth story.

I was 27 years old and pregnant with my third baby. I was planning on giving birth at home again, in my own environment. I had already given birth to my son, six years ago, at home and found the experience relaxing and comfortable.

I had a hospital birth with my eldest and did not have a positive experience.

On the whole, I found home birth a better environment for me to give birth.

Ironically, the day began with my partner being away at his father’s funeral. I began to feel contractions when I awoke that day, a slight regular tightening but not painful, so I continued to get ready for the funeral.

After a few hours at home, we set of driving along—the road leading from our house has lots of speed bumps and I found that every bump we drove over set off another contraction. So, I decided it would be safer if I stayed home and my partner went alone with our two older children.

I went home, called my mum for support, as I didn’t want to be home alone incase labour sped up and I was caught on my own. I got on with my day quietly at home with my mum doing housework until they all arrived home from the funeral around 5pm.

My plan was to keep my children home, but as labour progressed I found I needed a quiet, still environment with no distractions so I could just be with myself and focus on the job my body had to do. My mum took the children home with her for the night.

Within half an hour of being alone, with just my partner, the surges suddenly became intense. I found that the most natural way to manage the contractions was to ride them like waves. I immersed my mind as much as I could in journeying up to the clouds and staying up there in my mind, riding each contraction as they came, peaked and went.

This labour was the most intense of all three. I barely remember the midwife arriving, as I was deep within my own mind.

When the urge to push came, I let go and pushed. The third stage took around 40 to 50 minutes, and as the head crowned and emerged, I suddenly felt an explosion of absolute euphoria, the feeling exploded.

It was the most amazing feeling I had experienced in childbirth. It was unlike a sexual orgasm.

I had not experienced it during my previous two births. Or with my subsequent birth.

I was in such an internal mood after the labour and in awe of the experience of having birthed my beautiful daughter I forgot to ask the midwife if the feeling was possibly an orgasm.

A few days later I thought I’d look on-line to see if any other women had experienced the same sensation and to my surprise and amazement found that it was possible. Amazing!

Looking back I am sure the orgasm occurred because I relaxed myself as much as possible with meditation. I dismissed worries as they arose and I trusted my body. I also believe it occurred because the second stage of labor took as long as it did.

The baby’s head was quite possibly rubbing back and forth for a while on my nerve endings. Had she been born more quickly, the orgasm may not have had time to intensify while I was in a meditative state.

During my third pregnancy I practiced meditation a lot, which definitely enabled me to slip into meditation mode quickly and naturally during labour. I had practiced meditation in a weekly group and almost daily at home in the bath or in bed before sleeping or just after waking.

I had hoped to use meditation during labour, so I felt lucky I got the chance to use it.

I wondered if an orgasmic birth might happen when I had my forth, so I prepared this time with a beautiful shamanic drum beat recorded by a friend that I was going to use to help relax and send me off to the clouds again.

But it was not to be. My forth labour and birth happened so quickly that I had no time to relax into my mind. My body was speedily doing its job, birthing my baby within two hours, leaving no time or head space for me to relax into meditation.

My birth experiences have all been very different and each one absolutely amazing. I feel absolutely privileged to have had these experiences, as any women’s birth experiences are different.

The orgasmic experience certainly topped the lot. Such an awesome experience!

What a way for a baby to enter the world—through an orgasm!

~

Love elephant and want to go steady?

Sign up for our (curated) daily and weekly newsletters!

~

~

Author: Eva Hadert

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: courtesy of the author