Contractions

Women are having babies in my neighborhood like it’s the latest fashion trend. Thin ain’t in around here. Everywhere I go, I bump into a nearly 9-month belly, and I’m not talking about my husband’s.

I just love cuddling cute little babies, and I love giving them back to their sleep-deprived mothers even more. My little boyfriend just turned two, and I’m finally able to get a decent night’s sleep. If only I would actually go to sleep when I’m able to – like now. Right now I should be sleeping. I’m getting tired just thinking about it. Maybe I’ll finish this article tomorrow.

Maybe not.

So all of these pregnant mamas keep reminding me of my first birth. It was horrible. Traumatic. Insanely painful. Agonizing. Excruciating. God, I love Thesaurus.com. What made it worse was the 250-pound midwife who felt compelled to help me push out my 9+ pound baby by pushing down on the top of my stomach with all of her body weight. Oh, yes – my husband also decided to help me by using his hand to muzzle my mouth. He ended up muzzling my nose as well, but what did he care? He wasn’t the one trying to gasp for air so he could push out his watermelon-sized baby boy. I’m not sure what he was trying to accomplish, actually. Did he do it because he was concerned that I might bite my tongue off by mistake, or were his ears bleeding from my psychotic screaming?

My tree-hugging, a-naturale, home-birth-happy friends had convinced me to give birth in a birth center, where there is no pain medication available. What – birth isn’t painful enough, even with an epidural?

I had taken a course in hypno-birthing, but for some reason, the hypnosis tape had zero effect on me during the birth. It might have something to do with the fact that I didn’t practice at all. Whatever. I remember sitting in the birthing tub and cursing the hypno-guy out as his recording was trying to convince me how relaxed I was. I also remember pulling one of the shower handles out of the wall – you know, because I was so relaxed.

I had a close friend at the birth, who saved my sanity. She kept me focused on her eyes and breathed with me through each contraction. It took all of my mental strength to stay focused on breathing with her. If I tried to resist the contractions, they would only become even more painful, and I would suffer more.

Every so often, she reminded me that there was a point to this nightmare – which soon, I would be holding in my arms. Because I was so focused on my intense pain and how much I absolutely hated my husband, I had completely lost sight of what I was suffering for.

Doesn’t this sound familiar?

When life sends us contractions, or times of spiritual constrictions, how do we react? Do we try to fight and resist the painful situation? Do we wonder how we will ever be able to survive it? Do we realize that there is a positive outcome that we will experience one day, as a result of going through this situation? Or do we believe that we’re suffering unfairly, or without any purpose?

You know what emuna helps us do? It helps us breathe through life’s contractions! If we believe that everything Hashem sends us is for our ultimate benefit, isn’t it easier for us to maintain our calm and not get all hysterical and think murderous thoughts about our husbands?

With emuna, we don’t resist the tough times Hashem makes us go through. We understand that this, too, will pass. Yes, the challenge may totally suck, and we may feel like this is really the end of the world. But, if we can keep focused on the eventual and ultimate good that Hashem promises us, we can significantly lessen our suffering during such painful moments.

It seems like everyone is suffering from something, these days. In labor, when the contractions come closer and closer together, it means that the baby is closer to being born. This is what’s happening in the world right now. The painful challenges are being thrown at us, one after another, because there’s so little time left before the birth of a new era – the ultimate Redemption and the perfect world that we all dream of.

So, we must do our best to hang in there and breathe. Before we know it, we’ll be face to face with our righteous Mashiach and our Holy Temple! When that time comes, all of our suffering will feel like a far-off dream – just like moms who suffer from post-birth amnesia!