Belly Sex 3A: Pregnant Sexuality
So we are progressing through aspects of the female belly that have major impacts on sexuality and as there are two that are the most obvious, this is the article that covers the second one, which of course is pregnancy related. There is no doubt whatsoever that all of the situations that prevail in a pregnant woman’s life throughtout the nine months of gestation can be sexualised to some lesser or greater degree. The sexualisation of the gestational growth of the woman’s belly as the baby develops inside it can be especially significant as pregnant women’s bellies are often considered to be very sexually desirable by men due to their typical preference for the more spherical body areas and as there is a quite natural desire by the husband to affirm both his wife’s regular sexuality and that of the pregnancy, it is easy to understand that the sharing of the wife’s pregnant body with her husband that is considered a normal part of sexual intercourse can also be highly beneficial to the pregnancy itself and the preliminary development of physical intimacy between both parents and the unborn baby through physical contact during pregnancy. It is well known and understood that such contact is normally attained by the wife through the rubbing or caressing of her belly throughout the pregnancy but there is ample opportunity and reason for the husband to want to have such contact himself and this is easy to sexualise, affording a major opportunity for such encounters between a husband and wife to become enhanced opportunities for physical interaction potentially leading on to sexual intercourse.
The issues surrounding a pregnant belly compared to a fat belly are not as complex except in the case where a fat woman becomes pregnant; the 3B sub post off this one will look at that case . There are relatively few negativities associated with pregnancy for most women but that doesn’t mean that negativities are insignificant. Pregnancy is often a time of celebration for a family – unless something goes majorly wrong in the womb, or if the family circumstances themselves are problematic. Pregnancy is definitely a time when the mother finds that her sexuality is “stretched” in many ways. The physical visibility of her growing womb causes the fact of pregnancy to become public knowledge at a certain stage of gestation. At the same time, it’s one possible factor of several that impact on physical intimacy with her husband – assuming she is still interested in such things given the many impacts of pregnancy upon sexual desire. In summation, even if the circumstances surrounding the situation of pregnancy are generally positive, in that the pregnancy is desired and well supported by the family, the particular circumstances of each pregnancy when broken down create a variety of personal challenges on a day to day basis for each and every one of the 280 days of an average gestational cycle. Unsurprisingly these can make normal expectations of female sexuality harder to achieve in a family situation. However the flipside of that is there is a special component of female sexuality that is enhanced during the pregnancy particularly in the later stages where the mother’s belly is more visible, which is one of the key matters that this post is attempting to address.
As we evaluate most issues on this blog in a 3-D or PSS concept (see earlier posts if unfamiliar with these terms), the spiritual aspect of pregnancy also has to be evaluated as an important component to pregnant belly sexuality. Given that wives are already more spiritual than husbands by the nature of their sexuality in general, it is unsurprising that the inherently major spiritual component of pregnancy really comes into strong focus during those 40 weeks and will naturally be more significant later in the term due to increased visibility of the pregnant belly. We’ve already established that 3-D is important especially for adult female sexuality and continues in a marriage where masturbation may be used to enable a wife to reconcile her sexual differences in the marital relationship from her husband – in other words to continue sexual development on that female-specific track at preferred solo times of refreshing in order to be able to continue maximising her contribution to sexual intimacy with her husband. In a marital situation, the husband generally is primarily focused on that sexual intimacy with his wife, whereas the wife can be split in that she focuses both on sexual times that are with her husband and separate devotional/developmental times between her and God which let her ensure that the especially feminine aspect of sexuality that she needs to preserve is maintained and not overwhelmed by meeting her husband’s needs. The need for these separate times continually in a marriage is something that should not be overlooked during a pregnancy as the increased demands of gestation make this sexual recuperative aspect all the more important both in the short and long term as an investment into the family as a whole, likely resulting in greater and stronger sexual intimacy in the marriage, particularly in a Christian context where godly women often find increased sexual passion goes hand in hand with a strongly committed and devoted personal faith.
Pregnant belly sex is something that has the different PSS aspects or components to it for a wife who is pregnant and seeking to make her pregnancy central to sexual intimacy with her husband. There are many benefits that can accrue from applying this kind of focus in the marriage during pregnancy as it flows into the establishment of strong family relationships with the unborn child/ren from the very beginning of life. Pregnant women often struggle with different aspects of their physical appearance during pregnancy due to the common secondary effects of weight gain, stretch marks and others. If a pregnant wife can overcome these challenges and learn to focus primarily on what is happening inside her belly, from all of the PSS aspects, she can achieve the greatest benefit from combining physical, sexual and spiritual intimacy in an integrated way that works both for her in private times and in shared opportunities with her husband throughout the pregnancy. This essentially means that she should aim to maintain sexual intimacy in some form (which may need to be adapted as necessary) throughout the pregnancy with a special effort being made in the later stages particularly. There are also opportunities in the physical recovery period in the first few weeks (generally six) after birth if adaptions are made, for example shared times of masturbation. This particular issue is important where adverse circumstances such as birth trauma or perhaps even a stillbirth have to be overcome and worked through. In those times the husband particularly needs to step up and make more effort to understand the struggles of his wife and help her to focus on overcoming.
The important conclusion or summary we aim to reach in this article is that a deep PSS intimacy can be achieved between a husband and wife during a pregnancy because of the nature of what pregnancy represents (summed in the concept of “pregnant belly sex”) and achieving this intimacy has flow-on benefits into family life for both the expectant parents and the resulting children over the longer term.