Despite the abundance of information, we still have a lot of prejudices that can complicate intimate life. Sexologist and psychoanalyst Catherine Blanc analyzes one of these popular opinions every month.
“Pregnancy is an exceptionally important event in a woman’s life, and this new state will certainly affect her self-perception and her attitude towards sex. Of course, the libido also changes. Some women feel at the peak of their form. And really, just think: they create a new person! This gives them a feeling of unprecedented freedom, omnipotence, fullness of life, which has a beneficial effect on their sexuality. In addition, the change in hormonal background emphasizes the peculiarities of the female nature and nourishes sexual desire. Other women see in this feeling of fullness of life confirmation of the meaning of their existence. They are completely absorbed in their mission and lose interest in sex. Sometimes pregnancy suppresses a woman’s sexual desire, since it is psychologically difficult for her to combine motherhood and sex. The expectant mother may also believe that sex can harm the baby in the womb, and she wants to protect him. There are cases when a woman begins to feel disgust for her body and for a while completely excludes the sexual sphere from her life. Or he cannot get rid of the feeling of the presence of a child and feels that, having sex, he is also involved in this action — one thought of such a “mixture of genres” immediately extinguishes any sensual impulse.
A woman rarely perceives her pregnancy from beginning to end in the same way. In the first trimester, she listens to new sensations in her body, may experience ailments, nausea — all this becomes an obstacle to desire. The second trimester is often a period of celebration: a woman wears her pregnancy like a banner, and the libido can unfold to its fullest. In the third trimester, some women feel tired and do not want to have sex. Each stage brings different sensations, a different view of oneself, changing the desire. In the same way, the second pregnancy is experienced in a new way: a different perception, new discoveries, often everything goes calmer, because the couple is no longer on the first date … «