Sexuality and childbirth: a qualitative analysis of women who had a waterbirth

Abstract

Waterbirth is associated with a less painful childbirth, enhanced couples’ intimacy, and positive feelings toward women’s bodies and sexuality. In a qualitative, descriptive case study involving 21 participants, we examined the sexual experiences—during childbirth and postpartum—of women who had a waterbirth in a hospital environment. Women discussed their sexuality in the intrapartum and postpartum period after having a waterbirth in public or private hospitals. Two main themes were developed from the data analysis: ‘women’s sexual pleasure during waterbirth’ and ‘sexuality after childbirth’. Experiences included transcendence during waterbirth, a feeling that it represented a unique experience, and couples’ more positive feelings about intimacy. The shared representations of women suggest that waterbirth can be a calming, joyful event for couples. During this process, they felt that it was a loving, shared event. In addition, after childbirth women experienced positive feelings toward their bodies and sexuality (including orgasm), as well as closer intimacy with their partners.

KEYWORDS:

• Waterbirth
• sexuality
• childbirth experiences
• postpartum sexuality
• childbirth orgasm

Acknowledgements

We thank participating women for sharing their experiences.

Disclosure statement

None declared.

Additional information

Funding

We thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superios - CAPES, for providing a 35 month doctoral scholarship (Reference: 99999.002767/2013-09) to the first author.