Orgasmic Birth - Elizabeth Davis

11/13/2020

Orgasmic Birth
Elizabeth Davis

This episode was sponsored by:

Please donate HERE

We are a 501 3c Non-Profit. Our aim is to prevent and heal birth trauma through education. Women need to understand their options and rights in childbirth so that they can have a safe and healthy birth.

In this episode, we talk with Elizabeth Davis, midwife, reproductive health care specialist, educator, and consultant. She is also the author of Heart & Hands: A Midwife’s Guide to Pregnancy & Birth (https://elizabethdavis.com/books/). She tells us about her first experiences with birth, including her being present at an unassisted birth, as well as her traumatic experience with her first birth when she went into labor a month early. Because of the premature labor, she reluctantly birthed in a hospital, where she received a lateral episiotomy.

She then tells about her second, home birth, whose success and beauty gave her a transformation of her previous experience. Her worries about tearing over her episiotomy scar shifted her focus deeply on her vagina, and as a result her delivery gave her a crescendo of sensation and emotion that she considered an orgasmic birth. Later, she met Debra Pascali-Bonaro who introduced her to the term “orgasmic birth,” and influenced her to write Heart & Hands, which focuses primarily on the physiology of birth.

Elizabeth then shares that “orgasmic” in “orgasmic birth” refers to any experience that is ecstatic, transcendent, sensual, and powerful. She explains how the pattern of female orgasm with the highest peak of sensation has plateaus on the way up. She compares this to progress in labor, and how both processes reflect female identity. She shares that even a painful birthing experience can still reach the point of having an orgasmic dimension. We then talk about what women can do to encourage an orgasmic experience at birth.

Elizabeth explains how orgasmic birth can lead to healing from emotional, physical, and psychological trauma. We then discuss how unassisted birth relates to orgasmic birth. We talk about the proper roles of midwives birth workers. We then finish with Elizabeth sharing that the coursework she has on her Heart and Hands course is linked to the National Midwifery Institute. To learn more, visit https://elizabethdavis.com.

• 1:07 Elizabeth’s Story
• 12:09 What is Orgasmic Birth?
• 25:09: Unassisted Birth and the Proper Role of Midwives
• 44:21 The Heart and Hands Course

http://elizabethdavis.com/
Check Out Her Book Here

Connect with our guest!

http://elizabethdavis.com/contact/

Podcasts are sponsored in part by Empowering Fearless Birth
donate@empoweringfearlessbirth.com

The way birth has developed over the past couple centuries has meant that there is now often a lot of trauma inherent in the experience. Compounded with the other trauma that women tend to pick up throughout their lives, this can make approaching birth a terrifying prospect and, if they don't know their choices, can make it a far more painful and overwhelming experience than it needs to be. Helping women to step out of that pain and trauma to experience the intensity of birth as a positive is a mark of a truly skilled midwife, and can make all the difference in the feelings they take away from the birth experience.

Sarah and Elizabeth dig into what it means to have an "Orgasmic" birth, what the nuances of that are, and how it is not unattainable even if the labor is painful. Elizabeth opens up about her first birth experiences and the trauma she sustained from her treatment during her first birth, as well as how her experience guided her toward healing during her second birth as she learned how to be present in her body and embrace the intensity of the experience. They discuss how giving in to the instinct of birth and experiencing it sensually can help a birthing person better connect with their body and with their baby.

Elizabeth Davis has been a midwife, reproductive health care specialist, educator and consultant for over 35 years. She is internationally active in promoting pregnant person-centered birth and is widely sought after for her expertise in midwifery education and organizational development.

This episode was sponsored by:

Please donate HERE

We are a 501 3c Non-Profit. Our aim is to prevent and heal birth trauma through education. Women need to understand their options and rights in childbirth so that they can have a safe and healthy birth.