Childbirth

During childbirth, it's natural for moms to experience some pain. But a new survey reveals that moms also can experience pleasure during labor: It notes that midwives report witnessing orgasms in about 0.3 percent of births.

Midwife responses to the survey "established the fact that obstetrical pleasure exists," said psychologist Thierry Postel of Blainville-sur-Mer, France, who conducted the study. The study collected 109 complete responses from midwives, who combined had assisted 206,000 births in their careers.

Anatomically it makes sense, says Barry Komisaruk, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University in New Jersey who studies orgasm. "The intense stimulation of the vaginal canal in childbirth may work to block pain — whether that stimulation is felt as sexual or not," he says.

Read the whole story at the Huffington Post.

I'd made it through months of morning sickness, quirky food cravings, and days filled with constant treks to the potty. But in the last trimester of my pregnancy with my first child, it dawned on me that my biggest pregnancy challenge was still ahead: labor.

Like many women who are pregnant for the first time, I wanted to know what to expect during labor and whether an epidural was advisable for me. A relative of mine shared an audiotape of herself screaming during her labor, which set me on edge. Was that what pushing would feel like? How long might my labor last? Would it necessarily be horrible for me, too?

Here, Circle of Moms members share answers and advice on what to expect during labor.

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The sight of a smiling baby can help brighten any mom's day, but Texas mom Erica Nigrelli literally was brought to life at the sight of her child.

English teacher Nigrelli was 36 weeks pregnant when she started feeling faint while at work one February morning. When she passed out, the school called 911 and two co-workers started CPR to try to restart her heart, the Huffington Post reports.

When Nigrelli arrived at the hospital, the doctors stopped CPR so that they could deliver the baby.

"The doctors told me that Erica delivered post-mortem because she did not have a heartbeat when they took the baby out," Nathan Nigrelli told The Star. "But I married a fighter, and now I had a baby girl who was a fighter, too." After the C-section, doctors diagnosed Erica with the heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and gave her a pacemaker, reports KHOU 11.

Read the full story at the Huffington Post.

One of the many questions a pregnant mom is likely to be asked by her doctor before she has the baby is whether she wants to bank or donate cord blood after the birth. "I've been thinking about this for months now. I'm having my first child, and I wanted to bank because I thought it was [a] cool and beneficial idea. However, if I'm having a healthy baby is it necessary? Should I just donate?" asks Circle of Moms member Ashley B. 

Cord blood is helpful in transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and many other life-threatening diseases, according to the National Marrow Donor Program.

Despite the life-saving opportunities, however, I decided to forgo banking or donating my children's cord blood when they were delivered. Here are five reasons why.

I got my tubes tied when I was 33 years old, right after the birth of my daughter. She was my third child, and even though I wasn't entirely sure that I was "done" with the whole baby-making thing, I knew that my husband and I couldn't handle any more.

I became pregnant the first time while I was on birth control. I did not know that antibiotics and birth control didn't like each other, and I unwittingly asked them to play nicely. They didn't; the antibiotics won, and I found myself in an ER in the middle of the night, writhing from the sharp pain of a kidney infection, and thinking that surely I was hallucinating when the nurse told me that I was six weeks along.

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"Wow! You have four kids?! How did that happen?"

FYI — don't ever say that to anyone. It's kinda rude. It implies that having four kids is somehow weird, or that my having four kids is somehow weird. Both of which may hold some truth, but it's still rude. But, since I have never shared just how these minions invaded my life, I will share it now. (Not the actual how — I mean, ew. But, you know, the how.)

I met my husband in 1997. We knew almost immediately that we were meant to be together, and in less than seven months we were engaged, and six months after that, we tied the knot. We had grand plans — be married for five years, have a child. When that child was 3 years old and potty trained we'd have another. When child number two was potty trained, we'd decide whether or not we wanted a third. We knew that the kids were in our future, we planned on them. Very specific, detailed plans. We planned, God laughed.

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Who knew giving birth could be so funny? These birth stories shared by Circle of Moms members prove that amid all the pain and pushing there can also be priceless comedic moments in the delivery room, especially in these four particular scenarios.

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