Ina May's Guide to Child Birth "quotes"

"The woman who gives birth without interventions, on the other hand, is more apt to be through with the pain when her baby is born. Often, she is euphoric, buoyed on the hormones released after the birth of the perineum around the baby's head and body, a pleasant sensation for most women. Pain, if present seconds earlier, is often erased or pushed into the background. Not only that, the woman has developed powerful relaxation techniques, practiced during the most intense and memorable experience of her life. She has learned how breathing slowly and deeply can change her bodily sensations, as well as the tenor of her thoughts. She has probably developed a new respect and appreciation for her body. She has experienced the extraordinary mixture of vulnerability. power, and contact with the female principle that characterizes labor and birth." p.166
"Janelle: Giving birth was like pre- postorgasm by the second or third birth but did not contain the pulsation felt at climax. Being in tune with rushes, pushing, deeply relaxing in between was a very sexual and powerful experience but higher than orgasm, because orgasm can seem more self-gratifying and is short-lived. Giving birth is such a spiritual experience, so miraculous, you are very in tune with God and seeing the divinity in everyone that the sexual part is not that important. Your are totally immersed in selfless love and so the blissful and sexual feelings are a by-product, a gift of allowing your body to do what is knows how to do while your consciousness is very expanded." p.159