“For me it was a mix of shock and hope,” she revealed. “The idea of giving birth in pleasure felt like a new world was opening to me!” Mangin said the idea behind orgasmic birth felt incredibly natural to her. “After the surprising effect of the idea, it felt logical. We conceive our babies in pleasure, wouldn’t it be normal and natural to bring forth our baby in pleasure?” At one point, the “waves” got so intense, she says she was forced to do a “weird sexy tribal dance” to keep herself calm. She didn’t shy away from honesty when describing how her orgasmic birth felt, either. “It felt like I was having a deep intense sex but without the erotic mindset,” Mangin explained. “It is a borderline kind of pleasure. This borderline pleasure we may feel while making love.” A 2013 study published in Sexologies surveyed 956 French midwives and found that orgasms happen in about 0.3 percent of births. Glamour reports that most of the time, these orgasms occur spontaneously, or are actually brought on by masturbation or sex during labor. Mangin told News.com.au that preparing to have an orgasmic birth requires very little physical preparation. “It’s a holistic approach,” she said. “A physical preparation with yoga, breathing, dance, and massage.” It requires moms to prepare spiritually and mentally. Mangin says that moms have to free themselves of old “programming and beliefs” that tell them “childbirth is painful.” Instead, they need to fill their minds with positive thoughts and affirmations that help them believe what a pleasurable experience childbirth can be. The mom shared that “acceptance and relaxation” are the most important parts of having an orgasmic birth. All over the Internet, moms who have experienced orgasmic births have described the experience. One mom on Reddit says that hers was “completely unexpected and spontaneous.” Eva Hadert wrote for the Elephant Journal that she wasn’t expecting to orgasm either, but right when her baby crowned, she “suddenly felt an explosion of absolute euphoria.” There’s no telling how popular Debra Pascali-Bonaro’s orgasmic birth movement is because the concept of combining sex and labor is still so taboo. But like Amandine Mangin, she isn’t ashamed to admit that she believes the two go hand in hand. “I believe birth is sexual,” Pascali-Bonaro writes on her website. “And by ignoring the sensuality, love, and sacredness of birth, we have made birth more challenging and more painful and fearful.”
