Some interesting facts about the vagina...

I also loved pregnancy and birth, particularly. Really treasured memories .

I also loved growing my babies. They were mine exclusively until they were born. Their kicks, hiccups, stretches were within me. No one could feel them the same way I did.

Oh I enjoyed having that human being inside my uterus. At times it is magical. To feel a little heel or elbow poking out. To see the whole baby roll over. But childbirth for me was very very painful. I would have fallen apart were it not for my DH. It has left me with deep anxiety when it comes to being examined.

OTOH, the women who looked after me - fed me, cleaned me, cleaned the room where I gave birth.. they mothered me as I became a mother.

Hell, do you think I am going to actually grow an entire new human in my body for nine months and not actually take pleasure in the delivery of my new human, my child, my baby. I will enjoy the process and feel the pain of bringing that person out into the world.

How nuts is that? How can we be made to be afraid of this?

Thank you for saying that about the fear BiologyNotBigotry

The focus on fear in labour is so unjustified. We are built to deliver humans into this world. We can really enjoy it. I did.

We grow an organ, the placenta during pregnancy, then after it has done it's amazing job and we no longer require it our bodies expel it. It has always fascinated me that we do this. Grow a temporary organ to nurture and protect another human being.

The act of giving birth was one of the factors which made me want a 3rd child. It was like there was a part of my brain that just couldn't comprehend not doing it again - I genuinely felt like I had to, which was a little awkward given DH only wanted 2...! It got to the point where I was regularly distraught about it & he agreed to TTC.

After labour #3 I have no interest whatsoever in ever doing it again! Nothing overly dramatic but I had a niggling feeling that my others had been fairly smooth & so this one would be difficult & couldn't get the mental image of my friend's description of how they dealt with her DC's shoulder dystocia out of my head. The fear got me & that made it such a different experience to my previous labours where I'd felt completely in control until about 15 minutes before the baby arrived.

I have every intention of being very vocal with close relatives & friends about the female body's abilities & the importance of dealing with fears before labour starts. I'm even considering training as a doula once my DC are older. For the most part, are bodies are pretty incredible & that needs to be recognised & trusted more!

Such a lovely thread

My second birth was probably one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Hard, intense work, I felt in control apart from the small stage before beginning to push, and then when she was born I had an incredibly powerful surge of euphoria which lasted well into the early hours of the morning. All the other births were bloody awful, but I would love to have another go if I could guarantee a labour and birth like number two.

When my female form reached the stage where the muscle movement was both transverse and downward, I was euphoric.

It is primeaval. It is the female body doing it's thing.

It is a secret that I know women can't share widely. I don't know why.

Some of us enjoy the process of giving birth. There was pain. It was a pain with a purpose.

I loved giving birth too - genuinely primaeval and empowering

*IlPorcupinoNilSodomyEst

Resistance when I was expecting DD, we had our 20 week scan a bit late and asked to know the sex. The sonographer said it's a girl and I asked 'are you sure, I know it can be a bit indistinct sometimes'. She said 'well, I'm looking at the eggs in her ovaries, so I'm pretty sure!'.*
I love this so much. This is everything you need to know about whether people can change sex.

I loved giving birth too picasso (well tbh the first time was ghastly but the others were at home in water & utterly awesome.) I would love to give birth again.

The egg that created you was formed in your mother while she was inside your grandmother’s womb.
Eggs are the gametes that transfer mitochondrial DNA to the offspring. It regulates energy use in each cell and is essential for human life.

This is a great thread.

I confess I had never seen a picture of a cervix before

Wonderful thread! Learnt a lot and feel empowered!

Thanks for this fantastic thread.

I know what you mean Picasso, I was thinking about the other amazing things my body can do and how it felt to feed my babies was what came into my mind. Then I thought maybe not ok to mention it because it can be so hard for some women, in fact it was hard for me but it still felt wonderful and I'll never forget the feeling.

where have the rest gone

They stay dormant in the ovaries unless they are released during the ovulation phase. A newborn female will have approximately 2m eggs in her ovaries - by onset of puberty this will be approximately 300,000. However on average she will only ever ovulate and release around 400 of them during her lifetime.

What happens to the eggs not released ResistanceIsNecessary? There are 300,000 but only 400 released.

And if we start with 2m but only have 300,000 at puberty, we have the rest gone?

I'm sure you will say something like they are absorbed. But I'm feeling a little anxious about these unaccounted for eggs.

I was an old fashioned feminist and read up on natural birth, I was seriously pissed off at the parenting classes that show videos of women screaming. Creating terror. Frightening women.

I gave birth to both of mine standing up.

Disclaimer, I realise I am not typical.

But I also realised that making women frightened of giving birth will harm their experience, I had enough midwives in my family to share the reality of this. Women are not supposed to lie down to give birth, your pelvis is not created to shove a baby up and over it.

Women lying down is a kingly tradition where the court had to watch the baby being born to prove it was the right baby. It's not the right way to give birth.

Birth, can we talk about birthing?

My boss said this

We had an argument about what colour eyes ds1 has and she gave up the battle with the words

'Well, I suppose you birthed him'

Birthing does not look right,,.....at all!!

Is that tactless? Sorry. I have many friends that never did/could.

But I so enjoyed it. What a thing to do.