Orgasmic Birth on 20/20 TONIGHT!

Some women even say that instead of agony, childbirth can be ecstasy.

"...the goal is not necessarily an actual orgasm."
"I hope women watching and men watching don't feel that what we're saying is, every woman should have an orgasmic birth," she said. "Our message is that women can journey through labor and birth in all different ways. And there are a lot more options out there, to make this a positive and pleasurable experience."

Watch the story Friday on "20/20" at 10 p.m. ET

Orgasmic Birth, January 2nd, 2009... that's tonight!

Judging Progress in Labor

Dilation is not the only thing happening when a mother is laboring to deliver her child.
She can take weeks to dilate or hours. So, that is not always a good marker.
More importantly is the position of the baby in relation to the cervix (the stations) & how "ripe" the cervix actually is. (effacement)
Even more important is the emotional "map" of labor.
Follow this link at the Birthing Naturally website to see what emotional checkpoints that a support person can learn to recognize, as to how labor is progressing through each of the stages of labor.

• Pre-Labor
• Early Labor
• Active Labor
• Transition
• Pushing