During pregnancy, your body and your roles may shift dramatically. These changes can transform your view of yourself as a sexual person. You may feel newly grounded in your body and revel in your creative sensuality. Your breast may become larger, your genitals more lubricated and engorged with blood, leading you to feel more in touch with your sexuality than ever before.
Yet, you may also feel that you're developing a brand new and sometimes awkward body. Many women struggle with a negative body image as they gain the necessary and healthy weight for pregnancy. People in your life and even total strangers may begin to see you as a mother and ignore your sexual self.
You may feel less sexual than you did before you became pregnant. Pregnant women and their partners worry that sex, especially penile-vaginal penetration, will somehow harm the pregnancy. This is not the case. Your body was beautifully designed to protect and cushion your pregnancy. Your baby is additionally protected inside your uterus by a surrounding pillow of amniotic fluid. The vulva and vaginal canal are perfectly capable of responding to sexual arousal, with no danger to the pregnancy.
Far inside of the vagina lies the cervix, a strong, muscular, donut-shaped structure that helps hold the pregnancy in place. Since the cervix is softer during pregnancy, any sexual practices that could cut, tear, or bruise the cervix should be avoided. For most women, penile-vaginal penetration is gentle to the cervix.
Also, nothing will get lost inside of you: until the very end of pregnancy, the cervical opening will develop a small mucous plug and remain much too small for anything like a penis, fingers, or dildo to pass through.
