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Pain in Childbirth

Posted Sunday, September 10, 2006 by Charlie Trimm

Since my wife just went through nine months of pregnancy and then forty hours of labor, our minds have often turned to what childbearing would have been like without the curse and the fall. I haven't done any formal study at all on the issue yet, but I am just going to throw out some ideas to see what ya'll think. The issue gets a little complex in another direction because we have both the curse, which directly speaks to the issue, and the fall in general, which would also certainly affect the matter.

I think that I think that (no, that is not a typo!) there would have been pain pre-fall, but not as extensive. Clearly, no babies or mothers would have died, so that means that many of the dangers present would not have happened. So does that mean that breach babies would not happen or just that they would be able to be born normally? I think the former: all births would work according to plan, without any complications. But I do think that they would have still taken 9 months, that some babies would be born earlier or later than 9 months, that there would be pain, that there would be stretch marks, and that the babies would still need some vigorous attention to get them to stimulated when they were born. But those are just some thoughts. Anyone else have an opinion?

Sunday, September 10, 2006 2:23 PM

Brian wrote:

I am sure that there would have been pain before the Fall. Skinned knees are not just a consequence of sin, and we had the ability to heal even before the Fall.

I take exception, though, to calling the consequences Adam and Eve received a curse. In that passage the cursing is very specific. The serpent is cursed, and the ground is cursed. Adam and Eve are told their consequences, and they are quite unpleasant, but they are not cursed.