Does anyone else, especially pregnant women, dislike reading all the Bible verses about women being in pain during childbirth? We all know labor is painful… does it have to be repeated so much?
As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain… Isaiah 26:17
She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Revelation 12:2
She went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. 1 Samuel 4:19
I think what might be worse than these labor-pain verses is the fact that God didn’t originally design childbirth to be painful. It’s actually the punishment for the first sin – Adam and Eve eating from the tree that God told them not to eat.
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done? … Because you have done this… I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Genesis 3:13-16
Adam was punished too, along with the serpent who deceived them. Don’t you wish Eve had some foresight to see how her choices might affect the rest of us? I’m not having “labor pains” right now but I am having severe sciatic nerve pain. It comes and goes, but came on strong yesterday and hasn’t really left. I was just sitting on the couch and leaned forward to put a coaster away when this sharp pain shot through my backside. The kind of pain where you think you might die, even though you know you’re overreacting a little.
It eased a bit as I made my way to the car since it was time for my doctor’s appointment. But as I try to get in the car I realize I can’t lift my right foot off the ground without that pain shooting through me. Why is it that my first reaction to pain is the “F word?” There’s my confession for the day. I’m not proud of it. I usually mutter it under my breath or in my head, which seems better than shouting it out, especially when you’re standing in the garage and neighbors and school children are walking by. I’m working on eliminating this from my instinct-driven vocabulary so that Baby’s first word isn’t… you know.
At some point this blog post seemed to turn into complaining but in an effort to be real and honest, I won’t edit it. I don’t really edit any of these except for spelling and obvious grammar errors…
In case you lost track, I’m officially 40 weeks and 3 days. The doctors and nurses were surprised to see me yesterday (they’ve been surprised to see me the last 3 weeks!). As I’ve said before, I’m very grateful for medical science and wonderful doctors and nurses that helped me get this far. But the real credit belongs to God. No one thought I’d make it past my due date. This really shows His power and He is in control. Thank You Lord!
As for the pains…. I know it’ll all be worth it. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. John 16:21
Debbie Chun 
Hang in there, Debbie!! Yay to a full term little one!! 🙂 He’s just so comfy in there!! 🙂 Hugs and continued prayers are with you, Jeff, and baby…. -Kati
you know, i stil get that sciatic nerve thing every once in a while—like the pregnancy experience of it likes to haunt me. it’s like you move in some inocuous way and you’re suddenly paralyzed–mostly in fear that if you move at all it might sear through you even worse. but, then again, it does go away, too! not a real helpful comment other than to tell you, i relate to that bizarro sudden curse inducing shock. and i am thinking of you!