Claire - vaginal orgasms are definitely not a myth

"I'm a community midwife, so if anyone knows about the pelvic floor, I do - I spend half my life talking about it. But I was guilty of not checking the health of my own pelvic floor."

"It was easy to be complacent because, despite having had three children, I didn't suffer from stress incontinence, which is the most common sign of pelvic floor weakness, so I assumed that the few exercises I was managing to fit into my busy life were doing the trick."

"Then, about five years ago, I met my partner, Paul, 42. One night I admitted that I was one of the millions of women who had never experienced a vaginal orgasm. Some people don't believe they're possible. He commented that I might have a better chance if I was more toned inside. I was shocked - I hadn't realised I had a problem."

"I'd recently given birth to our daughter Lily, two, and I asked if it had been worse since then. To my horror, Paul said, gently, that it was just the same - he thought I'd reached my maximum looseness before Lily!"

"He stressed that he wasn't complaining, that he loved our sex life, but that he thought that we would both benefit if I tried harder with my exercises."

"Although mortified, for me it was like looking into a crystal ball and seeing a future I had a chance to avert - one in which my pelvic floor could have continued to weaken as I aged. As well as sexual dissatisfaction, a weak pelvic floor could lead to a prolapsed womb, or a hernia of the bladder or rectum into the vagina."

"Even though I advise pregnant and postnatal women online through my website www.mymidwife.co.uk, I'd lost confidence in my ability to tone my pelvic floor - so I sent for a PelvicToner (www.pelvictoner.co.uk), which is like a big clothes peg you squeeze shut with your vaginal muscles."

"I began using it for a few minutes every night and was soon doing more than 100 squeezes a day. Within a month Paul was commenting on the difference - and two years on, I can happily report that vaginal orgasms are definitely not a myth!"

As reported in "We saved our love lives" Prima magazine Feb 2009. Claire Parry was interviewed by journalist Karen Evennett