Last week Cara and I attended a pregnancy class put on by the Corvallis hospital. It was two hours long and surprisingly intense, somehow as a guy I guess I'd forgotten how entirely uncomfortable pregnancy is, not to mention childbirth. The nurse giving the presentation passed around several life-sized rubber representations of the baby and uterus at different stages of pregnancy. The baby grows incredibly fast and as it does it begins to crowd out her organs, things such as lungs, bladder, and stomach are all affected by the baby's size and weight.
During mid-to-later stages of the pregnancy, Cara will need to eat smaller meals because her stomach has been compressed, she will tire more quickly, and generally feel uncomfortable much of the time. At the end of the pregnancy, Cara has to endure excruciating pain for many hours. She has been considering doing it without the shot that numbs you and I can't even bring myself to offer an opinion. She's the one who has to deal with all that pain. (and yes, I think Tom Cruise is a schlub) As a protective husband it's overwhelming to think about.
I have often wondered why that was the curse God gave Eve after the initial sin. Toil with your hands, or painful childbirth? Give me Adam's punishment any day! Painful childbirth seems random and just plain cruel. The only thing that makes this process worth enduring is the child that is within her, the hope of new life. Then it hit me, this is an exact picture of Christ! He lived a relatively short, and extremely uncomfortable life knowing that it would terminate in many hours of intense pain. How could he go through it knowing all this beforehand? It was because of the hope of new life, our new life! Cara chooses to endure because she knows that the child within her is worth it. Christ endured what he did because he thinks we are worth it.
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