Pasting the text here as well:

Ok so, I am late to the party with greys anatomy and have been watching since season 1 for about a year. I’m on season 14 and there is an episode where a patient in labour masturbates/has sex to speed the labour along which has slowed and it works. Well, it reminded me of my own labour story and honestly, I kind of want to get it down somewhere as it might help someone or give people ideas/options. I’ve searched and don’t see many stories out there. Over the 5 years since I have briefly mentioned it to maybe 2 people (husband and best friend) and even then I only said nipple stimulation as I guess it felt shameful or taboo but actually it was awesome and I think it was pretty great. So yeah, long story short I masturbated to orgasm when my labour slowed (at home in the bath) and it brought on full labour immediately. I also believe it turned my baby from back-to-back presentation to normal. So here’s my story.

First off, I want to give some context. I’m a doctor. My hubby’s a doctor. We are both pretty staunch on evidence-based practice and don’t have much time for what I guess is woo-woo/alternative stuff (although I’m also a big believer in you do you, no judgement here). So this is left field for me. Also, I would say I’m not particularly hyper sexual, my husband and I have had periods where we go months without sex and quite frankly a cup of tea, some chocolate and a good tv show are pretty hard to compete with. Lastly, I vaguely heard of this “orgasmic birth” thing before and laughed about it with my friends. Had no intention ever of doing this - it sounded weird, creepy and just plain unrealistic.

So to the birth. It was my third child. I laboured at home and had been labouring for about 24 hours (starting from the very first contraction). I was pretty sure it was back-to-back. I had had that with my first kid but not the second so I recognised the distinctive pain and the annoying up-and-down progression of labour. I’d labour for a few hours with the contractions progressing nicely until I was maybe 2mins apart and think sweet I’m ready to go into hospital and then out of nowhere it would disappear to maybe 30 mins apart. Annoying! I was trying to relax, meditate and breathe as I didn’t want my being tense or fearful to be a reason labour wasn’t progressing. I had also tried walking, moving, resting, all fours, hip rolls etc, basically anything I could think of or find on google. I was pretty happy and ready for the birth.

Now, everyone in the house went to bed early so I was alone. I was pretty tired myself but basically, I really wanted to get the birth over with. I knew if I had another night not sleeping, it would tire me and be detrimental to the labour. I also knew that the only thing that got the birth to progress when this happened last time with my first baby was when they gave me synthetic oxytocin and the baby turned spontaneously, and I basically went straight to transition. Better than forceps, but I wasn’t keen on having it again if I could avoid it as it was pretty intense. So I was googling stuff to get labour progressing, oxytocin etc. I had basically already tried everything except nipple stimulation/sex/masturbation. I was reluctant and felt weird, but I went ahead with nipple stimulation in a kind of ‘I’m a doctor doing a procedure way’ - funny now I remember it like I was going to get caught and have to explain myself. However, once I started with nipple stimulation, it felt good! Somehow it just felt primal and right, and I could see masturbating may be an option. Now to be clear, it wasn’t necessarily that I was horny, fantasising or thinking sexually, but it felt ‘right’ and comforting at that moment. So I thought “fuck it, I’m tired, I’ll give it one proper go, and if it doesn’t get this labour going I’ll get to bed and try and get some sleep”. My thinking was, at least I could say I had tried absolutely everything! I ran a bath, lit some candles, locked the door and well…ahem…began. Now I can’t remember how far apart the contractions were, but they were there, I remember stopping for them to pass. It felt nice but different from usual, I guess it was more effort to get there and more intense, but I knew I wanted to get there (to orgasm). Then I orgasmed, and man-oh-man what an experience. This was the most intense orgasm followed by and mixed with the most intense contractions that rolled over on each other and went on and on and on. I literally felt the baby turn (the same sensation as with my first - thank god I’d had that experience or else I might have freaked out something was wrong). I literally went from contractions every I don’t know 5-10 minutes to being on top of each other and super intense. I realised these weren’t stopping, I knew (in that way you just know when giving birth) I could birth in the bath pretty quickly but I needed to get out. The door was locked, and I had had a big haemorrhage post-birth after the first so really needed to get out, unlock he door, wake my husband and get to the hospital to birth. Man, it was tough but also kind of awesome when I look back. I was just focused on each step. I was having maybe 10-second breaks between every maybe three contractions so I had to do whatever movement or speaking I needed to do in that time. I remember distinctly in the bath thinking “right next break just get up, if you don’t get up you’ll have to birth here alone”.

Managed to get up, get to my husband and wake him. As I could barely speak I managed to say “get up, get me dressed” or something. The funny thing is I thought he would instinctively see I was basically about to birth on the carpet and really trying to hold it together and instead he got me dressed and then got back into bed to sleep! I feel I should mention he isn’t an asshole, just really tired, and I generally like to be by myself whilst in labour with just little check-ins from him. I remember looking at him screaming in my head but having to wait for the contraction to go, so I had a few seconds to say “no we are going now!”. So off we went in the car. I felt myself transition just before the hospital, and I was literally bearing down in the hallway, trying not to push properly. Again I thought everyone would see and recognise I was ready to push but nope. I am pretty introverted, so I think I keep it all in. I like to go inwards during labour, so I keep that sense of control, if I scream, it just feels panicky and awful. So again, I can’t speak enough to say I’m birthing. They show me to the room and leave. I bear down while standing up and feel the baby in my birth canal. I am desperately worried he will land on the floor and I’m trying to see if I can catch him myself but realise that’s a no-go. During the next break in contractions, I tell my husband, “get my underwear off and call the bell”. Again they don’t realise they hook up monitors and can’t get a good reading (because the baby is in the birth canal, which they don’t realise, and I can’t speak to say it). They say to lie on the bed so they could examine me, so I go with it as at least I can push and give birth safely there. Get on the bed, push, and I was done. I think only 8 mins after I arrived at the hospital, he was out. Probably less than 30 mins since orgasm-gate, and definitely under an hour since nipple stimulation etc. Before I started the nipple stimulation, my contractions were 30 mins apart and had been for a few hours, so it definitely progressed me.

After I was shaking like crazy, which I hadn’t experienced before with my other births, so I assume it was due to it being so quick at the end. I was totally chuffed as I’d got it done and dusted that evening as I wanted!

Sonya, that’s it. Not quite sure why I want this down, I just think maybe there aren’t enough stories out there about this so thought I’d just put mine down for the record! I’m not recommending it, and certainly don’t think it’s for everyone but hey, could be for some people! Don’t knock it till you try it. Don’t be freaked out, it’s not sexualising the baby, I wasn’t fantasising or thinking anything, just about the pain and pleasure, totally present in the experience. As a doctor, I do think our bodies know what they are doing and if you can avoid intervention, or do a natural intervention that as far as I am aware has zero side effects, then why the hell not? I’m super happy I did. I look back and think what a badass I was, I took control, and I see it as a really fun birth! And nope, I’m not crazy and think all births are beautiful; my first birth was awful for lots of reasons, but this one was pretty cool!

So yeah, putting this out there in case anyone is curious and wants a real-life story about someone down to earth going through this.

Oh and I’ve literally joined Reddit to post this so don’t know what I’m doing, hope it put it in the right place!