Excited/intimidated/thrilled by the idea of an orgasmic birth? Me too. I spoke with orgasmic birth doula Debra Pascali-Bonaro about the dire need to put joy, love, and ecstasy back into the birth experience. 

Debra’s journey centers around transgressing the medical system’s authority on what birth should look like and instead encouraging women to let their own bodies and babies be the guide. The system isn’t all bad, but it leads from pain and fear instead of uplifting the birth experience. This is deeply evident from how birth is managed in hospital rooms to the birthing language itself. 

Debra widens my understanding of an orgasmic birth to include not just a potential birthgasm, which can really help the baby come out, but also the experience of your baby being between worlds, first feeling your baby against your skin and looking in their eyes, and the many pleasurable moments in between. 

After all, birth is on the same continuum as sexuality. Pleasure keeps the hormones flowing. Debra emphasizes that we need to take the time for pleasure practices every day because we birth the way we live. 

Topics Covered:

• Putting joy, love, and ecstasy back into birth
• Orgasmic birth, the birthgasm, and all of the pleasure
• The pleasure and pain of my own birth experience
• Sex and birth continuum 
• Pregnancy is a time for healing and sexuality
• Pleasure practices
• Shifting illness-based birth language to a more pleasureful one

Resources Mentioned:

• DONA International: Doula training and doula certifications
• Orgasmic Birth Movie

Guest Info: 

• Debra Pascali-Bonaro | website
• Orgasmic Birth | Instagram
• Orgasmic Birth | podcast

Follow Me:

• Instagram: @afinehuman 
• Shop Dame: dame.com

This podcast was produced by The Wave Podcasting