Meet Britain’s luckiest mum who experienced four pain-free labours using hypnotherapy and breathing exercises – before enjoying a three-week ORGASM.
Midwife Emily Street, 35, experienced the euphoric sensation after each of the births of her four children.
The mum, who lives with husband Paul, 34, a food company manager, had her first pain-free labour when she gave birth to her oldest, Oscar, now aged nine.
Emily, from Hale, Cheshire, said: “I was really quite terrified having seen loads of things as a midwife, and obviously the things that really stick with you are the ones that weren’t so nice.
“I remember being heavily pregnant with Oscar, sitting on the sofa a nervous wreck and just bursting into tears saying, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this’.”
Emily researched ‘natal hypnotherapy’ and enrolled on a three-part course which included hypnobirthing which taught her to control the pain through breathing techniques.
She added: “Back then, hypnobirthing wasn’t popular. Hardly anyone had heard of it.
“While Paul and my family and friends were supportive I’m sure they were thinking, ‘Yeah, right, you’re saying this now but let’s see how you deal with the pain. She’ll still have an epidural.’
“In the end, I didn’t tell many people – I decided I should probably keep it under wraps.
“But during the tail end of pregnancy, after learning about hypnobirthing, I definitely felt more relaxed about what was coming, rather than dreading it.
“The whole idea behind hypnobirthing is distraction in order to keep you calm and to conserve your energy.
“When my labour first started, I was at home and it was about 11pm. I went downstairs, put on a chick-flick movie starring Jennifer Aniston and told myself to relax.
“I woke up Paul, he packed the car, made me a snack, and at around 7am we decided to go to hospital.
“And once we got to the water birthing room, the hypnobirthing became all about working with my own body.
“Rather than taking deep breaths in and tightening up, you take really nice long, slow breaths, with the lights down and the music playing.
“I’d asked for talking to be kept to a minimum so that I could really focus – certainly didn’t want someone shouting, ‘Push! Push! Push!’
“It all felt very new and intense, but it was never overwhelming or unmanageable.
“Oscar arrived just before 8am. I had a fabulous birth, and there was no pain relief.
“It surprised me how well it worked.”
Emily even likens her astonishing “euphoria” during childbirth to the intense hormones generated through orgasm – which lasted for three weeks.
Emily, who has three other children, Ernie, seven, Roo, five, and three-year-old Pip, added: “The euphoria that I felt after the births was very, very close to an orgasm sensation, which lasted for three or four weeks as opposed to something that’s very intense for a short amount of time.
“From my point of view, I’m happy with that.
“People think that hypnobirthing is this airy-fairy, hippie, new age thing, but it’s really not. It’s a real, back to basics principal.
“There’s not a midwife or doctor in the land who’d argue that a relaxed woman isn’t going to find labour more easy.
“I absolutely loved every minute of being in labour. I don’t want any more children but I would love to have that sensation again.
“I’m gutted I won’t ever experience it because I think it’s absolutely amazing.”
Emily is now a consultant for leading UK fertility clinic Reproductive Health Group and uses her experiences to help other expectant mums prepare for labour.
She said: “I teach the physiology of birth using diagrams of how your uterus is made, right down to the muscle fibres.
“I explain how everything works together, why you need to breathe really well, why you need to relax your muscles instead of tensing up.
“For a lot of people, especially the dads, that explanation is enough for the penny to drop.
“They go, ‘Well, yeah, it’s obvious – if you are hyperventilating and your shoulders are up by your ears, you’re not going to be able to do what your body needs to do.’
“The difference we can make to a pregnancy changes the relationship between mother and baby for the better.
“It really can change people’s lives.”
