Happy International Day of the Female Orgasm! For those of you who have had the pleasure (pun intended) of having an orgasm, you know that it is a sweet and satisfying sensation like no other. All women are different — some are quick to orgasm (remember when Jaiya had an orgasm just by thinking about it?), while others need to be warmed up for quite a while, like we saw on the Discovery special Curiosity. When it happens, though, your entire body and soul feel utterly amazing. So do you ever wonder what exactly is happening when you are about to reach your climax? Here's the deal:

• Once a woman becomes sexually aroused, her heart begins to beat quicker, and she breathes faster. She'll tighten various muscles all over her body. Her breasts will enlarge slightly, and her nipples will become erect. Some women's faces, necks, or chests will become flushed. Also, her clitoris enlarges.
• She'll notice that her vagina will have created a natural lubricant that will make sex much more enjoyable (if you're too dry, then sex can really hurt).
• Her labia (lips) will flatten out and open up. Inside, her vagina will lengthen and widen (preparing for you know what). All this happens because blood rushes to the pelvic area — called engorgement — and creates a pleasurably warm sensation in that area (you know what I'm talking about).
• As arousal continues, everything becomes even more enlarged, and all the changes mentioned above become more pronounced. Yet the woman's clitoris actually retracts under the hood and gets 50 percent shorter right before she climaxes.
• When the woman reaches orgasm, her skin will flush, and muscles all over her body will continue to contract. Blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing rates will continue to rise.
• In the vagina itself, she'll feel rhythmic contractions in the outer part of the vagina, in her uterus, and in her anus. These intense pulses happen about once every second. Mild orgasms have three to five pulses, and intense orgasms have 10 to 15.

Did You Know? The muscle contractions you feel in your uterus when you have an orgasm actually have a purpose — they help to suck semen higher up into the vagina, making it easier for sperm to swim to your egg and help you get pregnant!

— Additional reporting by Alexis Nordby