Some interesting facts about the vagina...

[ResistanceIsNecessary]

Inspired by this thread on twitter which had some good vagina info. It's amazing how many people know so little about the female anatomy so here are some more interesting facts!

• The walls are very elastic to allow it to stretch and then shrink back again after vaginal childbirth delivery. It does not require manual dilation to keep it open or maintain its shape, unless as a result of side effects from other medical procedures (such as some female-occurring cancer treatments).

• It is self-cleaning and has a naturally acidic environment until the time around ovulation, when the PH changes to make it more accommodating for sperm, to promote fertilisation. It does not require daily artificial cleaning products or lubricant to keep it healthy.

• The walls of the vagina (the vaginal vault) are made up of two layers of muscle tissue, which allow for expansion and contraction - which can often be felt as 'ridges', which lessen with age or post- vaginal delivery childbirth. The walls contain no glands.

Feel free to add your own facts

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've killed the fred with my weirdness 😀

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

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.

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.

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.

Verbena87 that's awesome

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

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.

Fermats

I had a CS and a VBAC

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

boldly

DS loves my squishy mum-tum too, and happily snuggles into it!

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. grin This is what matters to me...I don’t give a fuck anymore what random men think of my body.

Oh, how lovely!

And now you've made me remember. I used to sit and talk to my mum while she was in the bath - I recall this as cosy chats but I bet she was sighing to death inside at never being left alone even though she never let it show! - and I used to stare at her stretch marks. And she used to say she loved them because me and my brother made them.

I still have bath-chats with my mum sometimes, when I’m home (she’s 62 and I’m 31).

...I don’t give a fuck anymore what random men think of my body.

I want this on a t-shirt

Can we carry on this thread? I'm really loving it!

Does anyone have any more amazing facts about the female body?

very basic I know........but we do not pee out of our vaginas. (some people think we do)

Dr Jen Gunter has a good piece in the NYT: Your Vagina Is Terrific (and Everyone Else’s Opinions Still Are Not)
One year ago I wrote about my vagina and men’s opinions of it. Things have not improved.

Yes, I’m angry with men. The things I have heard women cry about — things told to them by men — are weighing more heavily on me as I age because they’re not going away. If anything, it feels to me as if the anxieties are increasing.

Social media likely plays a part: the growing number of platforms where women can be subjected to unattainable — and unhealthy — standards. Equally nefarious is the possible profit motive: doctors benefiting financially from women feeling badly about their anatomy, so that they undergo unnecessary and understudied procedures.

www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/style/jen-gunter-says-your-vagina-is-terrific.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes

Also, this good Twitter thread:

twitter.com/DrJenGunter/status/1077191075805052929

Squishy tummy- my daughter too. She pointed out it’s as big as my arse the other day mid cuddle 😂 😂
Children have a special way with words!

My daughter (3) says my tummy is like a bouncy castle
She can’t keep her hands off my stomach and boobs - it’s cute but draining
She even wants to put her hands inside my knickers 😳and rest her hand on my pubic bone as she finds it comforting but that is too much 😂😂😂😂

Great thread

Regardless of my own experience I love hearing stories of women who felt wonderful during pregnancy, who delivered their babies naturally and felt empowered and euphoric doing it

This. Is so true.

I had the pregnancy from hell. Several life threatening complications fommowed by an EMCS at 31 weeks. I cannot carry another pregnancy.
But my bad experience does not and should not negate all the positives.

For those who've ever longed to see a vagina/cervix/ovary/general reproductive system reproduced in biscuit form:

twitter.com/DrSdeG/status/1132589875239301120