Orgasmic Birth: Better than Sex
by Asha Ramakrishna
2006-12-07
As published in Boston Metro newspaper
Sex is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get… and so is labor! If only we could anticipate the birth of a baby in the same way we encounter the unknown filling inside a delicious bon-bon.
I didn't know that an orgasmic birth was possible until my second birth; and I became an addict to the power and strength involved in childbirth. Most women are afraid in the anticipation of the pain of labor, and go into it expecting it to hurt. We equate the intensity of the sensation of labor to pain because we have not developed an accurate word to express it. Typically the word pain has an injury connotation attached, therefore our psychological association is that it is damaging. Reframing our perception of labor is pivotal to enjoying the process.
The parallel, if not continuity of sexuality and giving birth is proven by the biology of the process. Did you know that the same hormones involved in love-making are also involved in childbirth? Yes, it's true, oxytocin (the hormone of love) and beta endorphins (hormone of opiate-like effect) are released during sexual activity and during uninterrupted labor.
I know this is taboo subject in our culture, and women (at least the "good girls") are not supposed to like sex, let alone have pleasurable childbirth. Birth is a right of passage and it is an opportunity fo
r each woman to witness the power, strength and conviction we possess. I know that childbirth can seem like pure hell, but trust me it is all about perception.
Similar to the high of a marathon runner, delivering a baby (much like climaxing) and can feel like pure ecstasy, if we allow it. Both sex and labor have the component of surrendering to the process. If you are making love and start thinking about the laundry or the list of errands, the experience may just culminate in a mechanical to-do item on the list. However, if you allow yourself to forget your worries, and just be present in the pleasure of it, the experience has a very different effect. If all senses are involved, and you can quiet your analytical mind, the pain/ pleasure line tends to encourage an orgasm. While hormone levels and uterus muscle contractions are heightened during labor and delivery, the sensation is more intense, and therefore that pain-pleasure line becomes more blurry.
I'm not suggesting that every woman will have an orgasm during labor or experience unequivocal pleasure (as a small percentage of women do), but what I am saying is that it is not pain, but rather it is intense. The power of giving birth is mind blowing sex multiplied, and can be transcendental. A woman who has allowed herself the opportunity to experience childbirth like this feels like she has come home, as if everything else is so mundane in comparison.
I was able to experience the raw power of my body, and it opened up the door to my sexual pleasure in a way I had not before. I invite you to consider the possibility of engaging the dance of pleasure and perceived pain. If not for labor, then hopefully for love making!
