26 Hours of Labor Orgasm
Well THAT got your attention!
This is one of those blogs that has been brewing for a while and for most moms it will challenge your thinking about labor and birth - but go with it. You’ve nothing to lose but stress and a whole lot that you and your baby can gain but intentionally increasing hormones associated with growth and health.
Let me begin by saying I don’t subscribe to the idea that birth is painfree for most women. It is such a subjective experience with a multitude of factors. But one thing we do know for sure - the less stressed you feel on the big day - the less pain you’re likely to feel.
If you want to have a ‘default’ pregnancy and birth then this isn’t the blog for you. When I say default I mean you allow your hormones, manager’s attitude, partner’s bad day to dictate your mood in pregnancy. If you’ve never heard about deliberately hacking your hormones to boost your mood in pregnancy you’ve been missing out on such an important aspect of this incredible time in your life. Default means you allow the rest of the world to decide how you’ll feel today - how you’ll feel about labor. It’s what I call an unsupervised ‘free range’ mind.
First things first - pain is an output of the brain - not your uterus. Your brain interprets the signals coming from the uterus and ‘decides’ if it will be painful or not - based on several different factors - some you can influence and others not so much. I wrote about ‘birthgasm’ a few years ago and was surprised at how many women contacted me about their experiences.
Why not take a few moments to just entertain some different ideas about birth - what if you’re one of the women who experience labor as pleasurable (maybe not all of it…but moments that undeniably feel kinda good).
Why not you? Just take a moment to consider what that would mean for you.
Doesn’t that feel very different when you think about your upcoming birth? If your usual thoughts about labor are filled with dread - why are you doubling down on how BAD birth can be instead of ‘doubling up’ on the potential of your labor being a positive and maybe even a pleasurable experience.
Keeping an open mind about birth means considering what that could potentially mean…and maybe it’s time we expand our focus on positive birth to include passionate birth too.
So bear with me while we take a trip to the Upside Down. Read the following points a few times and then close your eyes and play it out in your mind. It’s just a little experiment, try it with a curious, open attitude.
Imagine there’s a parallel universe where labor pain is non existent. Instead, women experience labor pleasure and people who say they experienced pain in labor are met with rolling, disbelieving eyes.
Imagine that expectant moms fantasize about having long labors and feel cheated if they had a short labor. Anyone who has a long labor is considered fortunate and lucky.
Imagine your provider’s only job is to quietly monitor you and your baby while your uterus rolls contracts in waves of pressure and pleasure. Your provider’s job is to leave you and your partner to it as you move, breathe and enjoy every single surge. The room looks quite different - without IVs, no machines pinging, no bright lights.
Imagine hospital rooms are designed to optimise intimacy and promote birthgasm. Only women having complicated pregnancies are encouraged to give birth in hospital. Most women excitedly choose to have their baby at home with midwives - and the government pays for it. (Birthgasm is probably a lot easier to imagine than government funded homebirths with skilled midwives). ;)
Imagine your provider encouraging you to vocalize with low deep moans while your partner looks on wishing they were the ones in labor.
Imagine how satisfied you would feel when you lift up your warm slippery baby - absolutely in love (and secretly wishing your labor was longer). Oxytocin floods your brain and body leaving you in a state of euphoria.
This is simply a mental exercise that reduces fear and anxiety and helps more moms enjoy their pregnancies especially in the face of so much bad news these days. You might like to incorporate this imagery into your daily ‘birth basking’ routine of deliberately releasing oxytocin and paying attention to your emotional state more often. You don’t have to tell anyone what you do in the privacy of your own mind.
So - will you keep doubling down on the kind of birth you don’t want by letting an undirected, unsupervised mind stress you out or will you allow your imagination to run wild (in a positive way) so you get to really enjoy this time in your life (and share those fab hormones with your baby over the coming weeks).
