Some interesting facts about the vagina...

I didn't particularly, like being pregnant, or breast feeding. But I do remember on one of my last contractions with DC2, having a pang of sadness that I will never have this feeling of labour again(only ever wanted 2)

I also love hearing about how others felt the whole experience magical.

What I did enjoy was researching history on child birth, and I completely agree about not laying on your back for it. I remember thinking every pregnant woman should be told about how our bodies work best in the run up to and in Labour, no matter if you intend to have drugs or epidural, by staying of your back as long as possible it could save you having to have an emergency C section.

I ended up coaching 2 mum's through pregnancy and Labour. I didn't set out too, but they were far away from their own mum's and family. So they sort me out for advice and help, As I had recently given birth to my second.

They both feared the pain and what could go wrong. Both said they would never be able to face Labour without drugs. I said that it's ok to plan for and have pain relief. But I passed on as much knowledge as I could, about preparing the body and brain for it all.

I sat on the Phone for hours talking one through her Labour and keeping her calm until she arrived at hospital. She had always been determined she would have an epidural.

But she rang me the next day to tell me she had a beautiful daughter born in the birthing pool.

I felt my most body-positive in the first few months post-birth. I certainly wouldn’t have won any awards by society’s standards of beauty but I felt strong, proud of what my body had done. I remember thinking that women’s bodies were not ‘weaker’.

Related to this is also feelings around ‘mum tum’. One of my childhood memories is of how soft my mum was and how lovely it was to cuddle her. My daughter seems to think the same about me and wil tell me she loves my squishy tummy. This is what matters to me...I don’t give a fuck anymore what random men think of my body.

The thread has moved on from this early post, but yes I am old enough to remember this in consciousness-raising groups. The Second Wave really was the best wave, no doubt about it.

It was a bit of a rite of passage, wasn't it?

Thank you for this thread.

Some incredible facts. Anatomy is wonderful and the female body must be celebrated for its ability to give pleasure and create life. It is something wonderful to focus the mind when life runs away.

My pregnancy and birth was straight forward. Labour made me anxious but not frightened. Only because it was an anxiety about the unknown-I had complete trust in my body. Pain was relentless!

Gave birth on all fours in the pool. The room disappeared when I pushed...well I didn't really push. My body just did it. I detached whilst it was going on. I thought that if I engaged in what was going on it would hurt too much , so I could hear what was happening but everything went grey and I just let it happen. Awesome!!

I've never been able to share this because of the horrible times my peers (including sisters) had.

So, again, thank you for this thread.

Fermats

I had a CS and a VBAC

The amazement of that 'Ta Dah!" moment when they lifted him above the Curtain. Extraordinary.

Anyone old enough to remember the days when we bought our own speculums and looked at our cervixes with mirrors?

The thread has moved on from this early post, but yes I am old enough to remember this in consciousness-raising groups. The Second Wave really was the best wave, no doubt about it.

Verbena87 that's awesome

I like knowing that if future archaeologists dig our bones up they will see we gave birth

Yes, gorgeous thread.

Everyone having difference experiences. But sharing a distinctive commonality.

I've felt it before. Over a uniquely female experience that I didn't actually have. But reading other women's accounts of it produced an incredible and profound sense of unity. Almost as if I had.

So glad I'm female.

Headinhands you haven’t! It’s a thing - have a google of ‘ecstatic birth’.

Resistance YES to this It didn't follow my plans, but it was a good experience because it was well managed, I was kept fully informed at all times and I was well cared for" re a ‘good’ birth! I wanted a homebirth and ended up with emergency forceps in theatre under epidural. My main emotion after the birth was a huge relief that all my worrying about avoiding intervention etc etc had been unnecessary - what mattered was that my baby and I were ok, and I was treated as a whole person, worthy of respect and indeed awe, by every person looking after us. Makes me feel quite evangelical about the NHS, and also the quantity of excellent human beings there are in the world, quietly getting on with helping new people into it.

And (this is odd) I love my episiotomy scar now it’s comfortable because I know that the one bit of my story that’s irreversibly marked on my body in an unambiguous way is that I’m a mother (I love that), and also because it’s a physical mark of when we both could have died but didn’t. The internal nerve damage I really could live without, but I’m trying to trust my body to do its thing and mend, and know nerve regrowth is slllllow.

Well, if it helps, I didn't orgasm but I did bite a lump out of the DH and he bears the scar to this day.

There you go. Thread - dead and buried!

Vaginas are still brilliant, however.

Lucky you headinhands.....

Im giong to endorse this suggestion - and I suspect in the wonderful way we women have someone will just self-nominate once this thread nears to an end...

i'd like to suggest that we have a new thread every week where someone starts a positive female-based discussion around our experiences or features, as women. Someone could volunteer towards the end of t a thread to start the next one. Anyone up for that?

I'm already mulling ideas... and may well self-nominate - and I bet there are lots of us!

Meanwhile... growing a child inside us... totally magical and I do go a bit soppy and think of every birth as a miracle.....

For me that wonderful secret of a baby growing inside me, nourished only by me... that I was responsible for growing a whole new being from a cluster of tiny cells to the babe that emerged 9.5 months later....something I often recapture when life feels a bit low or contrary - that was such a magical empowering time for me

I've killed the fred with my weirdness 😀

I've only ever spoken about this on MN but I had a very strange orgasm type sensation when i was giving birth. Just bizarre. I really can't bring it up over coffee at toddler group can I? 😂 anyone else?

I loved growing my babies too, twin pregnancy was fascinating to me and seeing them both move independently of each other from the outside at they wriggled and kicked me gave me joy like no other.
Seeing their fused placentas which I had grown to support them whilst they were a part of me was such a proud and unique feeling, I will be ever grateful to my female body for my twins, it's incredible, the ability to release two separate eggs and grow them into two full sized babies with their own little sacs and support systems, so unique but so together.

Women are awesome 👊🏻

Reading this thread aloud to DH, now we are both marvelling at vaginas. Brilliant thread.

Lovely thread.

I remember watching a documentary a while ago, about Vulva's in churches, and the order of the Garter.

I couldn't find it, but did find a reference to it in The guardian.

www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/nov/23/artsandhumanities.monarchy

It was a programme by Dan Cruickshank.

I think he has written a book on it.

This thread is fabulous.

I had a CS, but I've talked to quite a few friends and rellies who've found giving birth an amazing experience (empowering in the real sense of empowering). BTW, my CS was fab too - tears of joy when they lifted DS up above the screen for me to see for the first time.

I like the "positioning of the clitoris" version of the "argument from design" too.

I flipping loved having babies.
After my first I got a huge endorphin rush, it was amazing.
I love that they can suckle immediately and focus on your face.
And I love how quickly your uterus shrinks back after birth. It's amazing.

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤✌

Absolutely loving this thread.

I didn't have a good birth experience with my second. It was my first vaginal birth and my 'plan' had been to use the pool and be active and mobile. I ended up stuck in a bed on pethadin I didn't realise was horrific and effectively locked me in my own body and was poo pooed by the midwives as not in labour and unable to cope with pain when in reality I went from 0-10cm dialated in 3 hours without being checked once.

18 months later I look back on it and feel amazed at how strong my body was. How amazing my vagina and cervix opened to allow a big baby out!

And how utterly beautiful and incredible the feeling of her body sliding out of mine. My body pushing if its own accord and knowing what to do when my head was still asleep. Becoming two. Becoming separate.

And then her latching on to my breast and for 7 wonderful months, being the only thing in the world she needed.

It is a feeling I will never forget.

I know this is a bit off topic, but there's another lovely thread on the go atm that some may like to read I love breastfeeding

I was with my oldest friend at the birth of my goddaughter. When she started pushing it was as if the room had disappeared - she was using her female body to birth a human being. I'd never realised until then how strong the female body can be.

My second time giving birth was an awesome, incredible experience. First time not so great. Had a water birth, which I loved. The midwife told me to push, and I could actually feel my vagina expanding and moving apart as DS2 was born - very fast I should add. And this is surreal, but I had a very clear mental image of the music box which used to open up on the children's programme Camberwick Green! No, I hadn't been given any drugs.

You know, I'd seen that internal clitoris image before, yet til someone pointed it out here, it had never occurred to me how biologically sensible it was to have the bit of anatomy that solely provides pleasure far away from the possibility of being damaged in childbirth.

Three cheers for the clitoris!