After-Birth

Perusing the replies to the birth post on Exponent got me thinking about the various ways that sexuality can change following childbirth. For example, a friend told me that after she started nursing she told her husband that her breasts were off-limits to him because they were now “for the baby.” I’ve also heard friends mention that their husbands just weren’t as excited about their bodies after having seen a baby exit from their vagina. Personally, the impacts for me were two-fold: 1) I felt too exhausted to think much about my husband’s needs, and 2) I felt far less confident about my body after my abdomen was covered in stretch-marks and the rest of me was rather flabby from the pregnancy.

There are ways in which pregnancies enhanced my relationship with my spouse. We loved making babies together–it felt so good to be having sex with that intention (all of my pregnancies were planned) and there’s a great feeling of team-building: a joy that comes after giving birth to a child that belongs to the two of you.

What about you, how have birth experiences affected your sexuality?