Sex In Pregnancy Good For Couples

A report published in the Canadian Medical Association journal this week has finally laid to rest the controversies surrounding lovemaking during pregnancy.

There has been confusion over the issue and due to inadequate enlightenment, most people had believed the myth that sex during pregnancy makes a child promiscuous.

Some others believe that the act brings children bad luck while yet some others look at the health implication of allowing semen into the womb where the baby occupies in a pregnant woman for nine months.

But having sex during pregnancy is generally safe, especially for women with low-risk pregnancies, Dr. Clair Jones of the department of obstetrics at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital and University of Toronto, and her co-authors have written in the journal.

According to the experts, “sex in pregnancy is normal. There are very few proven contra-indications and risks to intercourse in low-risk pregnancies, and therefore these patients should be reassured.”

Jones said the report was published because there were no guidelines in some countries on how to advise patients about sex and pregnancy.

The report advised that women with low-risk pregnancies should feel comfortable engaging in sex as they please just as this same advice is given for resuming intercourse postpartum (after delivery of a baby), based on comfort level and readiness.

The exceptions to this report however include women with symptoms of a genital tract infection and a history of pre-term labour which could lead to miscarriages and premature delivery.

The report also mentioned Placenta previa as another factor that could inhibit lovemaking during pregnancy.

The report explained that in such situation, the placenta that delivers nutrients to the foetus(baby still in the developing stage) partially or totally covers the cervix, which is the passage between the vagina and the womb, and create a potential risk of haemorrhage or bleeding.

Dr. Jones was quoted as saying in the case where a pregnant woman has the placenta problem, “we worry that by having intercourse, that could cause a significant amount of bleeding, and that provides a significant potential harm to the baby.”

Doctors generally recommend pregnant women abstain from sex if they have a known placenta previa.

—Eromosele Ebhomele