Ecstatic Birthing?

Birth is orgasmic. I know, you are probably saying 'mine was anything but orgasmic - it had nothing to do with sex'. You are partly right. Birth may or may not have connotations to intercourse for many women - but the fact remains that a woman IS pregnant because of a sexual act. And, the fact remains that a woman's body, left to its natural structure of birth, will go through many of the same emotional and chemical reactions as a woman's body during a sexual encounter. And, the fact remains that birth, itself, is ecstatic, empowering, all-encompassing, humbling, and mightly releasing. That, in and of itself, is the emotional makeup of the orgasmic experience.

Let me get my hands a little dirty, can I? I have been thinking about this a lot lately.

We are sexual beings. Created to be sexual beings, we are intrinsically sexual. I am not talking about the act of intercourse, though that has its place, I am talking about relating to the nature of our sex (female) in our daily life - and the natural occurances that accompany that. So, how can we help but have sexual birth? It is laced with humbleness, charged with endorphins, and stronger than a tempest. It is untameable and timeless. It is bringing life into the world.

Dr. Christiane Northrup says this about ecstatic birthing:

"When women understand what's available to us at birth, then we won't ever give that over to an expert .the birth power, the orgasmic power that's in our bodies. When you meet a woman who's had an ecstatic birth, can I tell you? You can't talk her into taking drugs that aren't so good for her body. You can't talk her into a hysterectomy that she doesn't need. You can't talk her into having her breasts removed. You can't talk her into a crummy diet. She's come home to her body. She knows what this body is capable of. She loves this body. This body loves her. And there's nothing like the transformation available at birth to nail that in there in such a way that she becomes illuminated, because she's a channel for life. And then she becomes a channel for life in all of its forms."

Coming home to her body! What a strong image. A woman who comes into her full awareness of what her body was created, designed for, and reveling in it. Becoming aware of her most primitive and natural abilities. Relying on that strength that she cannot tame, only take hold of and embrace, it is lliberating and ecstatic!

Ina May Gaskin interprets the orgasmic nature of childbirth this way:

"It is possible to have an ecstatic birth-in fact, that is the best- natural high that I know of. And these states of consciousness are best reached when a woman is fully aware and fully awake.
Women don't have a way to know how their body works until they really try it out in birth. I think that women can be just completely surprised by the change in them from giving birth- you have something powerful in you -that fierce thing comes up-and I think babies need moms to have that fierceness-you feel like you can do anything and that's the feeling we want moms to have."

Imagine, if you will, the euphoria that a trained triathlon athlete feels when he finishes the challenge. Imagine the pain, the hardship, the fatigue, the sweat, the joy, the feeling of deep-seating pride and accomplishment, the ecstasy and face splitting joy… all from crossing a line in the sand. Now, imagine what a woman feels bringing for a life! Imagine that life is brought forth from your body in your own capabilities and strength, in your own ability. Imagine the all-encompassing power that brings an individual to her knees in humility when she realizes something greater than herself, yet fully herself, accomplished something so miraculous; something called birth.Sarah J.Buckley outlines the gift of ecstatic birth in her article "Ecstatic birth: Nature's Hormonal Blueprint for Labor":

"Giving birth in ecstasy: This is our birthright and our body’s intent. Mother Nature, in her wisdom, prescribes birthing hormones that take us outside (ec) our usual state (stasis), so that we can be transformed on every level as we enter motherhood"... "Four major hormonal systems are active during labor and birth. These involve oxytocin, the hormone of love; endorphins, hormones of pleasure and transcendence; adrenalaline and noradrenaline
(epinephrine and norepinephrine), hormones of excitement; and prolactin, the mothering hormone. These systems are common to all mammals and originate deep in our mammalian or middle brain."

How we were created. Nature's perfected art. Sexual beings - sexual birthing. Left the way it was intended, birth has the power to transform our respect, our thoughts, our preconceptions about birth. Left to it's own devices, birth changes a woman. It is a rite of passage - otherwise, what would the need for a labor be? It is transforming, and transforming it should be. A woman becoming a mother - life giver and nurturer. She is a fully sexual being.