Is it safe to have sex during pregnancy?
Pregnancy sex comes with a fair share of baggage. You may have worries about physically hurting the baby. Or the cultural concept of mothers as pure and selfless people may interfere with the idea of yourself as a sexual being. Whatever the case, there are plenty of ways to keep the fires going up until your delivery date.
If you’ve had a healthy pregnancy, there’s no reason why you and your partner can’t have a full and satisfying sex life. The truth is that your baby is comfortably protected by the amniotic sac and the strong muscles of your womb (uterus), while the thick mucus plug that seals your cervix helps to guard against infection. So it’s usually fine to keep having sex right up until your waters break.
Your baby won’t be harmed in any way while you’re having sex. You may find that your baby moves around a bit after you’ve had an orgasm, but it’s nothing to worry about. Your baby’s reacting to the pounding of your heart. She doesn’t know what’s happening or feel any discomfort.
You may have heard that having sex can bring on labour before your baby is ready to be born. It’s true that having sex may cause Braxton Hicks contractions, and it could even help to bring on labour if you’re full-term and your baby is ready. However, there’s no evidence to suggest it can cause you to go into labour too soon.
There are, however, some circumstances where you may have to be careful about having sex.
If you’ve had any bleeding or spotting in early pregnancy, your doctor may advise you not to have sex until you reach 14 weeks. And he may recommend that you don’t have sex for the rest of your pregnancy if you have:
- A history of cervical weakness
- A low-lying placenta (placenta praevia)
- had heavy bleeding during your pregnancy
- had a vaginal infection during your pregnancy
- If any of these apply to you, speak to your doctor or midwife about whether or not it’s safe for you to have sex.
(WebMD)
