DONA Doula Workshop with Debra Pascali-Bonaro this August at the New York Open Center
ôr-gaz'mik
Intense or unrestrained excitement or a similar point of intensity or emotional excitement.
Please share your ecstatic or orgasmic birth story with us. Birth stories are a powerful way of passing along information and creating an awareness of all that is possible in birth. Click here to begin.
“As a Family Physician I have attended births in hospitals, birth centers, and homes for over 20 years. I have had the honor of witnessing many, many ecstatic births and more than a few outright orgasmic births. It is not the experience of most women, but happens commonly enough to be called normal. Blissful birth can happen in any setting, and I have witnessed it under unlikely circumstances, but it seems more common outside the hospital, during average length-to-short labors, in private and quiet settings, and in unmedicated women (one of the comments ahead of me noted that one should suppress orgasmic feelings out of respect for others). As for trying to prevent the orgasm, that seems to be as likely of success as attempts to prevent the birth — it might be possible, but what would be the point? I appreciate the attention to the important topic of pleasure in parenting. Many women experience blissful sensations during breastfeeding. I wonder what would happen to our breastfeeding rates if more women knew that? And, since the hormones that mediate pleasure are transmitted across the placenta and secreted in breastmilk, I wonder also, what benefits the babies who are born this way may be experiencing?”
Elizabeth Allemann, MD