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Explorations in Ecstatic or Orgasmic Births
"I
had been told to expect a 'dogging pain,' but was
unprepared for the sensation of sexual ecstasy, the
voluptuous feeling of penetration....Crouched on my
knees on the little afghan, I caught the infant who
rushed from my vagina into the small world between my
legs, in the midst of an extraordinary orgasm from the
inside out."
-From
They Don't Call it a Peak
Experience for Nothing, by Ruth Claire(Mothering,
Fall 1989)
"I feel the baby come down. The
sensation is ecstatic. I had prepared somewhat for this
being as painful as my last delivery had been. Yet this
time the pulse of birth feels wonderful! I am building
up to the birth climax after nine months of pleasurable
foreplay. With one push the babe is in the canal. THE
NEXT PUSH BRINGS HIM DOWN, DOWN INTO THAT SPACE JUST
BEFORE ORGASM WHEN WE WOMEN KNOW HOW GOD MUST HAVE FELT
CREATING THIS PLANET....HE COMES, AS DO I."
-From Prenatal Yoga and Natural Birth, by
Jeannine Parvati Baker
"I had the most sought-after midwife
in France - my competent and funny aunt Marie-Therese,
whose radical idea it was that childbirth above all
should feel sexy. I listened to nothing but gospel music
during my pregnancy, a music quite new to me, and to
France, and "It's a High Way to Heaven" ("...nothing can
walk up there, but the pure in heart...") was playing on
the stereo during the birth; the warmth of the singers'
voices a perfect accompaniment to the lively fire in the
fireplace. My vulva oiled and massaged to keep my hips
open and my vagina fluid, I was orgasmic at the end.
Petit Pierre practically slid into the world at the
height of my amazement, smiling serenely even before he
opened his eyes."
-From Possessing the Secret of Joy, a
novel by Alice Walker

"Many mothers experience a burning or
splitting sensation as the largest diameter of the
baby's head passes through the birth outlet. Some
actually experience orgasm."
-From Mind Over Labor, by Carl Jones,
C.C.E.
"In 1968, I gave birth to Robert
Kirkpatrick. I was prepared, conscious, and in charge.
After 4 hours from the onset of labour, I experienced an
orgasm when my baby emerged from my body."
-From "Ecstatic Birth: The conscious evolution of a
possibility to a present reality," by Binnie A. Dansby;
Paper delivered at Congress of the International Society
for Pre- and Peri- Natal Psychology and Medicine,
Jerusalem, 1989
"I happen to think that having babies
is very sexy. The actual birth is so sensuous, very
erotic. The feelings we've both had at the birth of each
of our babies were so primal."
-Kate Capshaw Spielberg (a.k.a. Mrs. Steven Spielberg),
McCall's, May 1999
"I started pushing while Michael
supported me as I squatted. Immediately, after one
vigorous push I felt Damian coming down. A tremendous
excitement filled the kitchen and Michael and I seemed
to merge as our eyes met. It was as if we had become one
again as we did in a genital embrace. Yes, we were one.
It was not just I who was having the baby. Michael was
as well. The moment had become ecstatic. Sensations of
every kind and color coursed through me. I was one, one
with everything....And with that I shouted in sheer
delight as I felt Damian coming....out he shot, into the
safety of Michael's confident hands."
-From Happy Birth Days, by Marilyn Moran
"Biologically, you are designed to
receive great pleasure from your body not only during
lovemaking and intercourse, but in birth and
breastfeeding, too....Birth offers sexual pleasure on a
continuum from pleasant sensations (felt while your
uterus rhythmically contracts in early labor if you're
relaxed and feeling secure) to an intense birth climax
(yes, just like an orgasm) as your baby slithers into
the world of your waiting arms."
-From A Good Birth, A Safe Birth, by Diana
Korte and Roberta Scaer
"This birth was not only painless, but
very pleasurable. We had never read about this aspect,
and it took us by surprise. As the baby crowned, I knew
from Jean's look and sounds that she was having an
explosive orgasm, which rolled on and on. What a long
way from the pain and agony of conventional myth! Years
later we asked a sympathetic doctor about this. 'Yes,'
he said, 'I've seen it a few times. It may even be that
many women have orgasms during birth, but interpret them
as pain because the sensations are more intense than
anything previously experienced and because women are
conditioned to expect pain.'"
-From The Home School Challenge, by
Donn Reed
"Giving
birth is a highly creative act full of orgasmic
feelings, and can be a moment of ecstatic pleasure for
the mother."
-From "Mental First Aid in Pregnancy and Childbirth," by
Joost A.M. Meerloo, M.D. (Child and Family,
Fall 1966)
"Pleasure in birth may be the starting
point for optimal family relationships. Our knowledge of
reproduction suggests there may be a biological reason
for connecting pleasure in birth with the best outcome
for the baby."
-From "Psychological Factors in Birth and
Breastfeeding," by Niles Newton, Ph.D.
"Pushing was absolutely incredible. It
felt SO good. I loved the sensation of my daughter's
head popping out; and her body coming out was
incredible. I made roaring sounds. KT later asked me if
I was in a lot of pain and I said I felt no pain at all.
I was reaching down into the depths of my being - I felt
like I was reaching back through time eternal, into the
Great Mother herself - and using my power to push her
out. The sounds were sounds of power. And I felt
awesomely empowered. It was I could say the best feeling
I have ever had. Primal force of life coursing through
me. Power of Woman, Power of Birth, Power of Carolyn! If
I can do that, I can do anything I set my mind to. The
sensation of my daughter's body sliding out of my vagina
was orgasmic. I still shudder when I think of how
pleasurable that was."
-Caroline S.
"A woman in California was giving
birth at home in a portable birth tub and feeling very
sexy and loving with her partner. Each time she had a
contraction she would cry out, 'Oh, baby, I love it.
More...more!' Her windows were open because it was July,
and soon a crowd gathered outside her home. When the
baby was born amidst shouts of 'Yes!!! Yes!!! Oh, my
God, yes!!!' her neighbors gave her a great round of
applause. They only realized that it was a birth after
they heard the cries of a baby."
-From
Gentle Birth Choices,
by Barbara Harper, R.N.
"It was the ultimate climax. I felt
open, loose and free. Words cannot explain the feeling
as my baby's body slithered out. To this day I can still
sense that wonderful feeling inside. It makes me
tingle."
-From "Unconditional Faith," by Allison Scimeca in the
book
Unassisted Homebirth: An
Act of Love , by Lynn Griesemer
"Yet in a strange way the energy
flowing through the body in childbirth, the pressure of
contracting muscles, the downward movement of the baby
and the fanning open of soft tissues, can be powerfully
erotic....[Childbirth] can be the most intensely sexual
feeling a woman ever experiences, as strong as orgasm,
even more compelling than orgasm."
-From Women's Experience of Sex, by Sheila
Kitzinger
"Birth is fundamentally a creative
act, as is the act of sexual union....Indeed many women
have described giving birth as intensely pleasurable and
have discussed it in orgasmic terms....more and more
women are enjoying labor and birth with their husbands
just as they have enjoyed the sexual
experience....Making love, orgasm and giving birth are
all inter-connected."
-From Special Delivery, by Rahima Baldwin
"It was ecstatic, wonderful,
thrilling. I heard myself moaning - in triumph, not in
pain! There was no pain whatsoever, only a primitive and
sexual elation....With the most spiraling, fascinating
thrill of all, I felt my baby slither out. I wanted to
shout with joy."
-From Natural Childbirth and the Christian Family,
by Helen Wessel
"My first son was born by unexpected
cesarian section. My second was a planned homebirth with
a midwife assisting. He was posterior, so it was all
back labor and he wouldn't turn. There was a great deal
of pain, but in the last few minutes, as much pain as
there was, it suddenly swung the other way to huge waves
of pleasure as his body came out - an incredible RUSH
like nothing I had ever felt before or since. I said to
my midwife, Dhyana, 'Wow! What was that thing in the
end!?' She said, 'That was The Gift. A lot of my ladies
get that.' I held that baby and instantly loved him with
my whole being. Maybe this is the way that nature had
intended it to be for us. Now, looking back, the only
thing I can think is that he went ramrod over my
G-spot...all 9 pounds of him."
-From "The Gift," by Susan
"I asked my husband to make love to me
as I was in a very romantic mood and wanted to feel him
inside me urgently. It was a wonderful experience. I had
a few orgasms during contractions - an absolutely
delightful sensation. There was no pain at all....(since
then) our lovemaking has gone from great to
extraordinary."
-From "The Effect of Lovemaking on the Progress of
Labor," by
Marilyn Moran
(Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Journal,
Spring 1993)
"Birth has much in common with orgasm;
the hormone oxytocin is released, there are uterine
contractions, nipple erection, and under the best
circumstances for birth, an orgasmic feeling."
-From In Labor, by Barbara K. Rothman
"Birth is a dark, private, and secret
opening up of our ancient sexual selves. Birth
sensations, when we allow them to be, are actually
highly sensual - much like the intense, luscious,
squeezing contracting that happens during orgasms
experienced in late pregnancy.... the sensations of
giving birth are not fierce and violent; they are
rapturous - we feel an ever-increasing pressure on our
cervix as our body prepares for the sweetest, most
intense of orgasms, the lovely culmination of our labors
of love: birth. During birth, we pant, scream, and throw
our head back - this is sensuality with a purpose: we
are taking in extra oxygen, releasing adrenaline into
our bloodstream, and widening our pelvic outlet. And
when the baby comes out all slick and new, we are in
ecstasy, enraptured by the most heightened hormonal load
we will ever know."
-From Resexualizing Childbirth, by Leilah McCracken
"At about 3 AM, I got a real feeling
that the baby needed to be born, and also a great surge
of energy, the first I had felt. Then I made a very
astounding discovery. I was able, through prayer, to get
knowledge directly from God, that birth is a sexual
event, and involves the same mechanisms that the
beginnings involve. I was able to get my labor started
again and I was in hard labor within 15 minutes. As long
as I was alone and able to yield to the sexual joy of
the birthing, I was able to experience wonderful
orgasmic feelings and no pain at all."
-From Pat Goltz, in the newsletter, The New
Nativity, edited by Marilyn Moran
"My body told me to squat, so I did. I
hunkered down on two feet, concentrating, knowing
without being told that millions of females before me
had brought their babies into the world in this ordained
position. It felt so deliciously comfortable to squat; I
felt the baby move down. Come...COME... COMMMMME!
It was then I began to scream, but not
with pain - with joy. With release. I felt an enormous
all-body orgasm as I bore down, again, and again, and
again, crying out with lust and happiness. The baby was
coming, and so was I. I pushed an enormous last push
with every fiber of my being; the head and shoulders
appeared. By then I was sobbing. I reached under the
baby's armpits and pulled out...a child. A living,
breathing infant...born perfect. Perfectly beautiful. My
daughter."
-From
Awakening, by
Jen Bradley
"I returned upstairs with some of
Stella's dance tapes. Belly dancing to the music, I
found that the contractions were much more
bearable....Oddly enough, the more obscenely I thrust my
pelvis back and forth, the less it hurt. I was amazed!
Why hadn't I known that these movements were linked to
the act of birthing, I wondered....Moments later, I
discovered that all the pelvic thrusting I had been
doing in my life - dancing to get a date, making love,
and now, giving birth - was integrally connected. All
that thrusting had gotten me pregnant, and all this
thrusting would help bring a new life into the world.
While the drums banged in my head, I was serene knowing
that I had found the secret to life: the glorious pelvic
thrust."
-From "The Glorious Pelvic Thrust," by Maria Young
Alders (Mothering, Winter 1994)
"Birth is always intimate and sexual,
although the intimacy and the sexuality can be masked.
My own personal experience of the births of my children
confirms this. My feelings throughout my wife's labors I
can describe only as those of a very close,
physical-emotional, sexual union with her and what I
felt to be the transcendent force flowing through her.
The sensation was warm and soft, like making love, but
was also strong, forceful and awesome. Each time the
experience changed my life and allowed me a glimpse of
the transcendental."
-Lewis E. Mehl, M.D., quoted in "Psychophysiological
Aspects of Childbirth," in The Psychology of Birth,
by Leslie Feher
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