Before taking the class “biopsych of childbirth” I had never heard about a woman being able to have an orgasmic birth. After watching the movie and much discussion about the topic, I find it sad that women will electively opt out of this potentially very rewarding (in more than one way) experience.
I think the problem lies in education. I feel like when a woman becomes pregnant and visits her OB GYN for the first time to confirm the pregnancy, it should be the OB’s responsibility to tell the woman about ALL of her options about giving birth; not just having about whether or not to have an epidural or a c-section. If women were to watch “Orgasmic Birth,” hospitals would lose a lot of money and this is probably the reason most OBs don’t want their patients to know about this side of birth. For the most part a skilled midwife and/or a doula and supporting friends and family is all that a woman really needs when giving birth. When a woman is brought into a hospital with all of the bright lights and commotion, it’s no wonder that labor becomes stalled. Stress and unfamiliar surroundings make it difficult for any real progression to take place. But, instead of sending the woman back home to labor, the doctor’s insist on jumpstarting the labor with Pitocin or other similar drugs. After the augmentation of labor comes a downward spiral of unnatural process that make it impossible for a woman to birth the way nature intended.
In my opinion, the fact that a woman’s body is not only able to successfully give birth (most of the time), but can provide the woman with such a rewarding cocktail of hormones after she has given birth is remarkable. This capacity in itself should be enough evidence to prove that outside interventions are not always needed and should be avoided if possible.