Labouring women and sexual activity to augment birth

[Bluegoat]

OK, so this may seem like a strange question. I am pretty sure what I think, but I am curious to see how others interpret it.

I work with pregnant and birthing women. When labour is going slowly, one recommendation is for the mom and husband to engage in sexual activity. This is one of the most effective and safest ways to stimulate the hormones that stimulate labour; although their are synthetic versions available, they have many more risks to mother and child, and of course have to be administered at the hospital. In many cases, actual intercourse is not allowed because of the possibility of infection, or totally impracticable for the labouring woman.

Do people think this would this violate the idea that sexual activity is always meant to end in normal intercourse and ejaculation? My thought is that it is directed entirely toward the delivery of a healthy baby, the natural product of sexual activity, it makes perfect sense.

 

[bpbasilphx]

If a woman is in labor, I should think the LAST thing that charmed her would be sexual activity.

More than one husband has been cursed by a wife in the throes of labor for getting her in this condition.

 

[Christy_Beth]

I agree. When I was giving birth to my daughter, I would have strangled her dad if he made a suggestion like that.

 

[1ke]

Do people think this would this violate the idea that sexual activity is always meant to end in normal intercourse and ejaculation?

Yes, it absolutely violates the moral law.

Any sexual activity between a husband and wife must be a completed act of intercourse or it is disordered and a sin against the sixth commandment.

If the couple wants to have intercourse late in pregnancy, that is fine. There is nothing in Church teaching that would prohibit that.

If the couple wants to do other things that result in orgasm without intercourse, that is not fine and a sin against the sixth commandment.

My thought is that it is directed entirely toward the delivery of a healthy baby, the natural product of sexual activity, it makes perfect sense.

One may never do a moral evil so that a perceived good may come from it. The “good” *end *of deliverying a baby cannot be brought about through the immoral *means *of disordered sexual activity. Both the ends and the means must be morally good.

 

[Seatuck]

Actual intercourse and orgasm may be encouraged to bring on labor but no sexual activities during labor that are not ordered toward the marital act.

 

[Bluegoat]

I agree. When I was giving birth to my daughter, I would have strangled her dad if he made a suggestion like that.

Certainly some mothers feel that way, and they are quite vocal about it. Others seem to find it brings a lot of relief. Unlike the synthetic hormones, which actually make them feel worse.

I guess that it seems to me that the end, in this case, is identical to the end of sexual intercourse itself. That is, it isn’t a matter of looking to justify some unrelated end, if that makes sense. People, I think inappropriately, try to separate labour and birthing from the activity that produces it, in the sense that they make it non-sexual. But the same parts of the brain are engaged and many similar emotions can be involved - the need for privacy for example. The failure to recognize this, I think leads in part to North America’s rather atrocious maternity care.

 

[Christy_Beth]

Privicy during labor and delivery? When I was going through that, all I could think about was getting the kid born. There could have been a whole crownd there, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed.

 

[Bluegoat]

Privicy during labor and delivery? When I was going through that, all I could think about was getting the kid born. There could have been a whole crownd there, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed.

Labours generally proceed more smoothly when there is the opportunity for privacy, not too much light, not to much noise, the ability to move around at will, constant emotional support from a familiar person, and the labouring woman is not asked to think about things.

There are lots of examples of labour slowing or stopping because people who made the mother uncomfortable came in the room - which might just mean someone she didn’t know. Dilation can even decrease in such situations. The inability to ensure privacy can cause anxiety which causes labour to slow - anxiety releases horomones that slow things down so that the mother has time to “escape”.

Some people don’t really care as much, but most want some privacy, especially before 2nd stage.

 

[tjm190]

… No moral objection here, but that is not an image I want in my head… ever ever ever ever.