The Sexuality of Childbirth by Carl Jones
The following excerpt is intended to help you understand the need for regaining sexual purity in preparing for childbirth
From the moment of conception to the time a baby emerges from the uterus slippery and moist to be cradled in mother's arms, childbirth is a sexual process. We can draw striking parallels between lovemaking and uninhibited, unmedicated labor. The following is an expansion of the list Niles Newton includes in Maternal Emotions:
- The uterus rhythmically contracts during both intercourse and labor, though the intensity of contractions is far greater in labor.
- The vagina lubricates and opens during both processes.
- Women are usually intensely emotional, vulnerable, and sensitive during both lovemaking and labor.
- An expression of physical exertion appears on a woman's face near orgasm and during childbirth.
- Social inhibitions decease near sexual climax and toward the end of labor.
- Sensory acuity and awareness of the external environment diminish during both experiences.
- Both orgasm and childbirth are usually followed by a sense of well-being.
- The same hormone, oxytocin, is released during both lovemaking and labor.
- Both lovemaking and labor can be impaired by disturbances in the environment, negative emotions, or inhibitions.
- Lovemaking and labor are both primal functions. Both work best when the judgemental, analytical mind is set aside and the instinctive mind takes over.
- Most important, labor, like lovemaking, is smoothest and most satisfying when one surrenders mind and body to the process.
The fact that labor shares similarities with lovemaking doesn't imply that every moment of labor is pleasurable - though labor can be extraordinarily fulfilling at times. But appreciating the sexual side of labor will help both parents to better relate to the experience.
Damp hair clinging to her perspiring brow, her cheeks flushed with energy, the laboring woman looks and sounds like a woman at the height of sexual passions. Her breathing may be long and hard. She may moan, sign and groan, and perhaps make little grunts toward the end of first stage. In second stage, when the urge to give birth sweeps through her, she may moan and grunt as she bears down.
Fathers are sometimes surprised to hear such sounds, and may misinterpret them as expressions of pain. Though groans and sighs may indicate pain, more often than not they are simply the natural, instinctive voice of the laboring woman.
When a laboring woman begins uttering sexual sounds, it often indicates that she has surrendered to labor, that she is attuned to her ""primitive" self and is in a optimal state to labor. In effect, her heart brain has "taken over."
Making sexual sounds often helps the mother better surrender to her sea of sensations. For many laboring women this is a far more effective coping method than fixing the attention on an external object (like a point on the wall or a poster) or trying to control the breathing. In fact, an effective remedy for a mother on the verge of panic is simply to tell her to lower the pitch of her voice. If she is screaming, her partner can tell her to groan or moan instead. If necessary, he can groan with her. The deep, lower-pitched sound often dissolves the fear.
Related Topics:The Coach's Notebook explores more ways to prepare for childbirth with comfort measures and techniques you can use. Prepare your physical body for childbirth with exercise and nutrition. The Christian Childbirth Resource Directory lists websites, books and organizations all created to help you honor God through childbirth. Birthing Naturally Books publishes books to help you grow closer to God during this special time of life. Find other childbirth professionals near you in the Natural Childbirth Directory. |
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