There are a lot of changes that happen during pregnancy and not all of them are good. Pregnancy orgasms are one of the exceptions. Sometimes, there are just things that we find out for ourselves along the way. There are things no one ever told you about. You may have heard in passing that pregnancy sex gets a lot hotter, but there aren’t a lot of us willing to dish, so consider yourself lucky that I’m a classic over-sharer.
During my first trimester, I pretty much couldn’t do anything by lie very still and moan, because moving around too much made me want to hurl. Talking too much made me want to hurl. Pretty much being awake made me want to hurl. So, sex was out of the question. My boobs hurt, the heartburn was killer and my husband probably would never talk to me again if I threw up on him during the act.
But hello, second trimester.
Hello, blood flow to all sorts of places normally reserved to flow into once or twice a week. The thing about pregnancy orgasms that no one tells you about is that they’re really, really good—and it’s freaky when they happen.
The first time I had an orgasm while pregnant, my entire belly hardened up into this weird point off to the left. It was the first time I experienced contractions, so of course I thought I idiotically ruined everything and was going to give birth prematurely all because I couldn’t keep it in my maternity jeans.
Once I had the awkward conversation about orgasms with my (male) OB-GYN and was given the OK to keep going, I did—keep going, I mean.
I had an orgasm every night. Before you think me some sort of horrible perverted mother, hear me out.
Once I got over the nauseating "don’t rock me too much or I’ll get sick" part of sex during pregnancy, I couldn’t believe how much better it got.
No one ever told me
No one ever told me how easy it was to have an orgasm while pregnant. Or how intense they would be. No one ever told me how responsive my body would be and how the lightest touch would practically put me over the edge. Sure, I always ended up with a weird lumpy belly and I knew my baby was getting a nice little squeeze and it made me blush, but I thought of it as excellent practice for my uterus—and I never looked back.
Of course, there was the one time (OK, it was a few times) that I peed during sex. And, of course, I can’t ever forget the post-coital phone call to the on-call OB-GYN because I started contracting in regular intervals. I was told I needed to lay off sexy time for awhile to let my uterus rest. But, seriously, why does no one tell you this stuff?
If you can get yourself over the fact that there is a tiny human along for the ride, or quite literally stuck in the middle of you two, pregnancy sex is freaking amazing. You can thank the extra estrogen in your body for increasing the blood flow to your nether-regions, and oxytocin—“the love hormone"—for, well, making you want to get hot and heavy every chance you get.
Sure, there are a lot of changes to get used to during pregnancy. Maybe your body won’t ever work the same way again. But for now, enjoy the perks. There is nothing to feel uncomfortable about, and we should be talking about this more.
After all, in a few months or weeks, you're going to birth a baby and won’t want to even think about getting it on for quite some time. Get it while you can.
