After the conception of our first child, I began preparing my heart for the labor and delivery process. Honestly, the idea was frightening to me due to the TV documentaries I had seen and also the myriad of discouraging accounts I had heard throughout my life.
However, at my church and from other friends, I had begun to hear testimonies that really gave me encouragement. In my heart it was my hope that the Lord had a better way for birthing and I wanted it for my own experience.

Even while pregnant, I could not bear to see pictures in the birthing book that my husband and I were reading and therefore decided that I was not ready to continue reading. The pictures looked so painful and only seemed to back up the negative experiences I knew many other women were having. My fears were being stirred up. I knew I had to work through those fears of birthing which had compiled along the years.

My husband led the way for our family to have a wonderful birthing experience. He read the birthing books and then would explain to me what the process would entail. The education took much mystery out of the childbirth. I felt relieved that though I would be the one giving birth to our son that my husband would be fully aware of what was going on, too. He earned a new place of trust with me and I relied on him for support during the preparation and the actual delivery.

These scriptures say that husbands have a special covering over their wives unto which the wives can submit. Also, I understood, that even in birthing the power of my body belonged unto my husband and he had authority over it.

The Lord led me through a gentle process of recognizing my fears related to birthing and one by one I repented and asked forgiveness for being in agreement with a spirit of fear.

Many times in the Word, God has said, “Fear not.” When I am in fear, I am not trusting in God and therefore am being disobedient to His commands. As I renounced my fears it gave a place for God to bring a blessing into my life in those areas. I came to understand that it was not really God’s intent for women to have awful birthing experiences as a result of the fall of man in Genesis.

I spent time with my pastor’s wife who has had 6 natural childbirths. Her positive experiences and understanding of the Word of God gave me insight into what God intends for us today.

Jesus Christ took all of our sins, iniquities, punishment, and curses on Himself at the cross.

Why then do we still have curses in our lives and in this particular dilemma, why are many women still having very difficult childbirths? It is because though Jesus Christ paid for these penalties, we are not appropriating the blessing now made available through the cross. What does appropriating mean? It means I must obey His commands so He can honor His Word in my life. It means I must break any generational curses coming down my family line (Jeremiah 32:18, Deuteronomy 5:9). It means that I must break alliance with any ways of the enemy that I am in agreement with, such as the spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). God honors his Word, but if I am not living by His Word in my life then He cannot honor His Word in those circumstances. If I continue to choose to live in fear, one of the practical results is that in the labor process I will have a physiological response of tensed up muscles, which according to medical research sets up my body for a more difficult labor process. Understanding this I chose to spiritually labor to enter into rest.

As often as the self-pity, mistrust of God, and fears such as a fear of pain would come up I would go to the Father and repent and let Him restore my heart in that area. I broke the power of the words that had been spoken to me such as, “Giving birth is the most awful and painful experience I’ve ever had.” Maybe it had been for them, but that doesn’t mean that it was necessarily what God intended. I repented for any possible curses in my family line around the birthing process that might be a set up for problems. I started to hope for a wonderful birth, which I began to really believe God intended for families to have. He had a beautiful plan for birth even before the foundation of the world, before sin and the curse entered in, and I wanted to experience it.

It was time to hope in God and His plan, not to put faith toward the bad report. Did I have hope? Yes, finally! Then that meant I had faith according to Hebrews 11:1. The weeks before our due date I meditated on Matthew 11:28 and Psalm 23.

While in the delivery room I wanted to remember from Psalm 23 that the Lord is my
Shepherd, that He would be there to comfort me and that surely goodness and mercy would follow me right into that room.

My husband and I asked our pastor’s wife to be present with us during the labor and delivery process. We wanted to have her as an experienced resource since this was our first birth, we wanted to have a godly authority with us, and also she helped coach me through the stages of labor. My husband and the pastor’s wife held the medical staff at bay so I could just labor. I didn’t have to deal with anyone, but let them take care of everything that came up.

A few months in advance, my husband and my pastor’s wife told me I was not allowed to be a martyr in the delivery room. If I needed any pain medication down to an epidural then I was to get it. My husband and I desired to have a natural childbirth, but he would not let me idolize it at my expense. Being released from that expectation brought rest to me.

My labor and delivery was short and intense, but not painful or traumatic. I did not even need any pain medication. To my surprise, my body just took over and did it all. My job was to keep my peace, keep my body relaxed and let God have my body do what He created it to do.

I reflect on that time as one of the most incredible experiences I have had as a woman.
God was with us. It was a holy time and I will forever treasure it. I’m not saying it was effortless, but I know it was more in line with what God intended from the foundation of the world. My hope is that giving birth to our daughter in a few months will be even more in line with the blessing of birth that He planned.

A.S., GA US