Orgasmic birth is just one method of birth and like everything else it works for some people and maybe not others.  When they say that when you expect pain that what you get, that's true but I think more of what they're trying to say is if we take away the fear of giving birth and thinking about how painful it's going to be,and let our bodies take over you find that you can handle the pain of birth.  A womans body is made to do just that.  Also what you said about the scary hospital, many people choose homebirth because they are more comfortable in their home environtment and also the risk of infection is less than in a hospital.  Americans try to make birth a medical proceedure and it's not.  America has the second highest maternal mortality rate of all the developed countries.  We have more births attended by obgyn's as apposed to a nurse midwife like most developed counties.  There is such a stigma here to have any other birth exsperience besides the one you see on tv with woman on her back, in a hospital bed, with her legs in stirups screaming. The entire exsprience lasting about 5 minutes.  If anyone who has ever been envolved with a birth knows that is not the case. Maybe we should just let people have the birth they want that works for them and stop trying to tell them that they're wrong.

This is the biggest load of horse crap I have ever heard!

During the final portion of giving birth, the entire perineal area becomes numb - natures way of allowing for tears of the perineum without losing your mind with pain...just how in the world would a woman be able to feel enjoyable stroking of her sexual area during such a time!  Honestly, the crap some people will write - and believe!!

"Americans try to make birth a medical proceedure and it's not."

Actually, for many of us, it most definitely is.  Without an emergency c-section, both my daughter and I would be dead.

If an "orgasmic birth" works for you, wonderful... but I wouldn't recommend having that down as your birth plan for the reasons Diane lists and more.

Oh lord, I am so tired of this manufactured "controversy" about orgasmic birth, and I find this article's concluding sentence to be downright insulting to my intelligence. Natural pain management techniques aren't really an all-or-nothing endeavor. There's a strong mind-body connection in labor, and in most physical endeavors for that matter. You prepare your mind so that you can have an optimal physical experience - you might still feel pain, you might not have an orgasm, but it's still useful to have an outlook and a strategy that helps you make sense of what's happening to your body.

Also, I find reactions like Diane's  totally bizarre. Orgasmic birth is sort of rare - it happens for some women, but not most. Why does everyone have to have the exact same experience that you had? Lighten up.

Look, I know this is about the Mom, and making the birth easier on her, but talk about some serious performance anxiety for the partner. My wife could barely tolerate my existence in the maternity room (thank goodness for our Doula) the thought of trying to turn her on during such incredible pain is beyond my comprehension. This is just for us, but I'm betting she appreciated the back rubs more.

I call for a truce!  If you want to have a natural, orgasmic, bathtube birth at home, GO FOR IT!  But don't slam the moms who are more comfortable with a hospital birth.  If you want doctors, drugs and nurses, GO FOR IT!  But don't diss on the moms who want to go the other path.

We each make our own choices and we need to remember that this is a personal decision and let's just respect each other for it.  It's ok to be curious and it's ok to say, "hell no, not me!".  But let's not load each other down with guilt.  We've got enough crap our our plate as it is.

"One problem though: how do you turn a process that causes the worst pain ever for 99.999999999999999% of the female population into the most sensual and pleasant?"

Well, you could start by not exaggerating so much.  I'd much rather give birth again (twice, w/o pain meds) than:

- get a root canal

- have shingles

- break my foot

All of these things I have done and they were WAY MORE painful than giving birth.  Get out of bed, get support, have a positive attitude and an affirming health care team.  Then, be lucky enough to have a normal labor pattern and though it is hard work, far and away it is not the most painful experience possible.

OK, I've had a root canal, and broken my foot (on five separate occasions) and I can honestly say in my case both were like a gazillion times LESS painful than giving birth.

If the orgasm thing works for you, great.  If you prefer to give birth at home, you go girl!!!  I'm all for it.  For you.  Same goes for breastfeeding, cloth diapers, and homemade baby food.

I had to have the last two by c-section.  I prefer my children to be born alive thank you very much.  I don't do pregnancy well, and both had different issues at birth.  I had literally no milk and couldn't breastfeed, and cloth diapers--ummm ick.  But that's just me.  

We are all different.  Our tolerance of pain is different.  Our child rearing is different.  Aren't we supposed to embrace diversity???

Um, sensual? I think I'd have tried to chew hubbys hand off at the slightest caress of my stretched out lady bits. Just saying....

First off the 'Scientology thing' was actually a pagan/Eastern Religion/Wiccan thing before it was a Scientology thing. Also, Diane, maybe the reason you're so bent out of shape about having an orgasmic birth is because you don't know where your clitoris is, cause it's not near the perineum and even when that are is being affected by clitoral stimulation, it's not the only place. The stimulation of the clitoris manifests itself in different areas throughout the pelvic space and sometimes even outside of it hence the reason why some women can orgasm from being pushed on their lower abdominals.

If you tell yourself something isn't going to be painful, it won't be. Mind over matter. I've met a woman who's had an orgasmic birth and she refuses to call it painful. "Intense, but not painful."

One last thing: if the husband can't do it--because the clitoris is difficult to find at this time as one can imagine--the midwife will.