As I near the third trimester of my second pregnancy, I find myself immersed in the world of maternity care once again. Pregnancy is a very tangible way to meditate on the already/not yet paradox of the Kingdom of God: I have a baby, and also I have yet to have my baby. In all the dreaming and planning for the baby itself, it can be easy to overlook that pivotal transition: the having of the baby—labor and delivery (in Spanish, “the parting”), where faith becomes sight. Well, it might be easy for someone else to overlook that moment, but for expecting mothers, it can loom large in the imagination as we either prepare to face—or try to avoid thought of—the moment of our “delivery.”
The more I read and research and frantically plan for the moment of our baby’s birth, the more I am struck by the significant messages that our culture sends about mothers and children through the way we collectively think and talk about birth. Ina May Gaskin, leader of the renaissance of midwifery in the United States, observes in her manifesto, Birth Matters, “The way a culture treats women in birth is a good indicator of how well women and their contributions to society are valued and honored.”[1] I would agree wholeheartedly but push even further past an interest merely in feminism to a broader application: Our cultural ideas about birth speak to deeper truths; they reveal our presuppositions about the origin and meaning of life, the dignity of all human persons, and the role of God’s sovereignty in the world.
Birth is a sensitive topic. As I write, I lovingly consider those women who have experienced traumatic births; been treated unkindly either during the birth of their child or because of the choices they have made about the birth of their child; experienced post-partum depression made more acute by the events surrounding the delivery; have lost a child; or have never been given a child. Also in my mind are the readers whose direct dealings with birth may be long in the past or never to come at all, or for whom the whole topic can seem irrelevant and off-putting. Despite the difficulty of addressing this topic, I would ask the reader to consider how your own ideas about birth, or plans for the birth of your child, answer these three questions: Is life meaningful? Do all persons have dignity? Is God sovereign?
Is Life Meaningful?
I have no memories of my own birth; perhaps you’re in the same boat. However, I would be willing to bet that your mother does have memories—good or bad—and chances are that she’s told you about them. Unless you’re particularly stodgy, you probably commemorate the event of your birth every year! Life is inherently meaningful, since God is intimately involved in the creation of each person, and we instinctively recognize this fact when we celebrate birth.
While a Christian, pro-life ethic has rightly argued that life begins at conception, we cannot cut off the argument there. The sacredness of human life continues up to and through the moment of birth. How inappropriate, then, to ignore the manner in which this new life from God is introduced to the world. Although the circumstances or atmosphere into which a baby is born is certainly not determinative of how the rest of that child’s life will proceed, believing that babies are sentient, God-imaged beings from the very start should cause us to consider what we can do to make the time of birth a set-apart, welcoming time for a new baby.
Pay careful attention to how your healthcare provider (and additionally how you and your loved ones) talks about the arrival of this new baby. Is there respect for the weightiness of the moment? Are any concerns besides medical ever discussed? Birth is not gall-bladder surgery; it is not primarily a medical event. It is the moment when God brings before your eyes the promise that He has kept in secret for you for the past nine months. Whether the birth occurs in a hospital, your home, or somewhere in between (preferably not the car!), work to ensure that the few selected to witness the moment have not lost their awe and respect for the miracle of life.
One additional concern is how the mother experiences this moment. Not only is a new life arriving, but a seismic shift will occur in this woman’s heart over the next moments, months, and years as bonding strengthens and mothering skills grow (again, while physiologically prompted by hormones, not entirely a physical or medical occurrence). Certain medical interventions can make it difficult for mothers to be fully present in the way that they might prefer; consider how the mother’s experience can be protected even in the case of pain management medication or surgical birth.
Do All Persons Have Dignity?
This question about human dignity is closely related to the previous question about the meaning of life. Life is meaningful because of God’s creative involvement, but human life is dignified by the image of God imprinted upon us. While Christians throughout history have speculated about what specifically it means to be created in God’s image, certainly the exercise of the human will is a reflection of God’s ability to execute His divine will. Granted, the human will is twisted and fallen since Adam and Eve’s sin, but respect of this faculty, however incomplete, is ultimately honoring God’s own nature.
How does this doctrine relate to birth? Unfortunately, many women can testify to the experience of not being able fully to exercise their will in regards to the birth of their child, whether because their voices were not heard in the labor room, they were incapacitated intentionally or unintentionally by medical interventions, or they simply had never been given the proper information to engage truly in informed consent. Birth is a sensitive and intimate time, and women can easily be taken advantage of—even by people with good intentions—unless caution is exercised in the decision of who will be present and who will call the shots during labor.
Additionally, consider the dignity of the baby being born. Although not common knowledge, babies are active participants in birth as well. Babies work along with the mother’s contractions, moving and spinning at the right times in the right places in order to achieve their exit. Some common medical practices (such as restricting the mother to the bed, or the lithotomy position for delivery) inhibit the baby’s ability to contribute in the way in which it was designed. This occurrence puts unnecessary hinderances on both baby and mother, and can lead to unnecessary complications. While mothers’ voices are at times not fully respected in the delivery room, babies’ voices cannot be heard; but in keeping with historic Christian approaches to abortion, voices that cannot be heard are not invalid. It should not take waiting for a distressed heartbeat for your healthcare provider to begin thinking about what is best for the health of the baby.[2]
Is God Sovereign?
Finally, consider your attitude before God about the birth of your child or a loved one’s. It can be tempting either to be terrified of the inherent unknowns of birth, or to put all your trust in the expertise of your health care provider. Recognizing God’s sovereign involvement in His creation alongside the wide margin for human error can help to correct either of these tendencies.
For mothers, remember that your body has been created and sustained for your entire life by your loving Creator. As Ina May Gaskin reminds us, “Your body is not a badly designed machine. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic.”[3] Although sin has thoroughly corrupted God’s good earth, Christ—and we in him—has been given victory over sin, death, and hell; we need not fear the effects of sin anymore, even while they continue to impact us. God holds the bodies and souls of ourselves and our children in the palm of His hand, and His good will will be done. Let us pray for the grace to rejoice in the will of our Father, no matter what it looks like to those of us on this side of eternity.
Often, putting too much confidence in modern medicine and technology is actually a result of fearing the process of birth, but it can also come from undue pride in human achievement and a naïve trust in technology. Gaskin explains:
It is easy for people to imagine that medical technologies and new drugs have been created and improved in maternity care at the same pace as they have been in other areas of life—to imagine that we now have drugs that can somehow enable babies to be born without putting their mothers through transformative changes. The truth is that the new developments in the area of obstetrics and maternity care . . . are primarily those within the realm of fertility medicine, out-of-body conception, and the ability to peek inside the uterus. . . . Such innovations have nothing to do with getting babies out of their mothers in safer, less challenging ways than nature provides for.[4]
Realizing that all the experts with all the right answers—and even our own bodies—can fail us pushes us toward a greater reliance on God; we then must “labor, striving according to His working” (Col. 1:29, NKJV), relying on the wisdom He provides to use the means He has given us, trusting that “in his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10, ESV).
Conclusion
While our culture may continue to fear, shun, glorify, or stigmatize birth, God’s truth orders our affections and teaches us to rightly value the birth and life of children: “fertility, pregnancy, birth, and birth pain are pointers to the one for whom we were made and all things exist.”[5] God grant us wisdom as we prayerfully apply these truths in each of our unique situations.
[1]Ina May Gaskin, Birth Matters (New York: Seven Stories, 2011) Chapter 1: “The Importance of Birth and Birth Stories.”
[2]While this is a more subtle example of respecting the dignity of mother and child, obvious applications could be made to practices that are blatantly disrespectful of all participants: excluding the father from the birth, routine episiotomy, cervical checks performed roughly or without consent, or excessive use of forceps or vacuum extraction.
[3]Ina May Gaskin, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth (New York: Bantam Books, 2003), 162 (emphasis original).
[4]Gaskin, Birth Matters, Chapter 5: “Technology and Empowerment.”
[5]Gloria Furman with Jesse Scheumann, Labor with Hope (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 151.
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