The Mother Of Two Who Masturbated During Labour Says More Women Should Do It

Angela Gallo was in the grips of labour. Contractions surged through her body and she felt fragile, helpless and overwhelmed but in that moment, she decided to masturbate. While many would be shocked by this, Mrs Gallo insists that clitoral stimulation worked as a natural pain relief and made the transition stage of childbirth more manageable.

So convinced that all women should be doing this, the 30-year-old has written a very frank and revealing blog post on the subject. While it is not uncommon for women to orgasm during childbirth, having an orgasm during labour as a non-sexual form of pain relief is a taboo topic rarely spoken about and Mrs Gallo said that is one of the reasons she chose to share her story.

Mrs Gallo described her first birth as highly medicalised and she underwent an epidural that left her feeling out of control of her body. In her second labour, through masturbation she was able to have a birth free of medical interventions. It lasted for six hours as compared to her first labour which went for 45 hours. She said “It's not a sexual urge whatsoever, It's my body saying hey, natural pain relief is where it's at. It's about exploring your options and exploring your choices in childbirth and taking ownership of your experience on a physical and emotional level”

Below her three reasons from Mrs Gallo on why you should touch yourself in labour

1. What Gets The Baby In, Gets The Baby Out!

Oxytocin, baby. With a side of Endorphin and Adrenaline. (In all the right amounts, too!) Ina May was not kidding when she coined that term.  Nipple, vaginal, clitoral stimulation, kissing, intimacy, affection; these all inspire the flow of our hormonal allies in birth. 

Experiencing a stalled or lengthy labor? Need a natural pick me up? Touch yourself, mama! It gets the good stuff flowing. Orgasmic in a sexual way no. Pleasure YES. It was my glorious instinctual pain-relief system coming to life! I am so proud of myself for exploring an avenue so typically shamed.  For as far back as scientific, biblical, or medicine based text exist, birth has always been spoken about as something to 'endure'; pain as punishment for eating the apple off that damn tree. To boot, many people feel very uncomfortable with the idea of pleasure in childbirth. And hey, I get it. For some, It's a pretty big idea that takes us way out of our comfort zones.

Debra Pascali-Bonaro, pioneer and crusader for orgasmic birth, says, 'It's such a culture where some women actually feel ashamed that they have pleasure, because the expectation is pain,' Pascali-Bonaro said. 'We have to change that. The good news is if you've made it this far, you're at the very least, intrigued. Here are a few enticing reasons to take the shame out of pleasure, and put the sex back into childbirth!

2. Pain Relief 

Ever had a headache, or been hung-over, or couldn't sleep; and you instinctively decided on a mini-masturbation sesh? And then voila - headache magically gone? 

Well - many of us do it. And that's because it works. So why would it be any different to using clitoral stimulation in during/between contractions? In 1988, a man by the name of Komisaruk published a study in the Journal of Sex Research, that explored the idea that when 'women stimulated their vaginas or clitori, they became less sensitive to painful stimulation'.

Using rats, Komisaruk found that vaginal stimulation blocked the release of a pain transmitter called Substance P. In other words, the sensory neurons tasked with transmitting their message of 'ouch!' to the central nervous system are stymied from the get-go. It's an actual physiological, very primordial system of the genital system blocking pain input,' Komisaruk said.

3. It Feels Good

Mood boost, anyone? Want to feel more relaxed? You know that dopey, satisfied, tired feeling you can after an orgasm...that's it right there. 

You may feel tense, anxious, stressed, unable to rest, mind racing - bring it back to basics with some deliciously luscious clitoral love.