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Here's How Your Sex Life Will Change During Pregnancy

by Cat Bowen

Being pregnant can be a beautiful thing. You've got curves in all these new places, you've got blood flowing everywhere — you are the literal embodiment of fertility. You may be curious to know some things, like, will sex change during pregnancy? Is it a good change?

During my first pregnancy, I was so sick all of the time, sex was the last thing on my mind. My thoughts were mostly "get up, don't pass out, try to keep something down." But with my daughter? That second and third trimester? It was like someone had opened my naughty floodgates and I was a woman possessed. I had no idea sex could be like that.

According to an article in Psychology Today, women are often fairly predictable in their sexual patterns during pregnancy. The first trimester is often marked by tiredness, illness, and irritability that makes sex less than desirable, but that second trimester? Hold on to your hats, ladies, because you may be entering your own personal months-long trip into sexy town.

The reason for this, according to The International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM), is that you're not puking every 10 minutes, plus, those floodgates? They were literal. Your vagina is working overtime, providing extra lubrication, making sex a slip-n-slide for her pleasure. Also, there's all this extra blood flow, often making sex very intense, and possibly making the big "O" that much more "Oh, My!" However, it's important to note that an orgasm may cause uterine contractions and cramping afterwards, and according to The March of Dimes, that's normal. Yes, beware if they last for a long time or get worse, but in general, it's just your body being pregnant. Because pregnancy is simultaneously weird and normal.

Unfortunately, in the third trimester, things might go a bit sideways, sexually, but not for everyone. Your belly is bigger, the increased blood flow might make things a bit too sensitive according to the ISSM, and your confidence may not be what it was.

For me, the third trimester was my best trimester. I got boobs. Like, real ones. You see, I am 6 feet tall, and built like a teenage boy. I have no boobs, hips, or butt to speak of. When I hit 30 weeks? I suddenly had all three. I had quite literally developed cushion for the pushing. I felt womanly and sexy for the first time in my life. Sure, there was the odd occasion when my husband and I were going to town and the baby decided to remind us both she was just below the surface by what could only be described as climbing the walls of my uterus, but after we stopped laughing, we were still doing it. Funny and fun. It's the whole package. It's way less funny when they climb literal walls when you and your partner try to have sex after they're born. Because then someone has to go check on them and make sure no one has a concussion or needs to lose iPad privileges. Screaming 6-year-olds are a real boner killer.

The Mayo Clinic noted that sex is totally OK for most folks while they're pregnant, but that yes, it's going to change your sex life. And that's OK, too. You're already doing so much just by being pregnant. If you're not into it, don't force yourself. But if you are into it? Lucky you. Take full advantage of your fullness, and relish in your fertility.