*I am writing this simply to share my different thoughts and feelings of things that I have studied while being pregnant with baby #4 and in my scripture study in case anyone else was interested. I am dividing this into three parts because its quite long and overwhelming. Plus, I'm still trying to get some of what is in my brain to be comprehend-able enough to write down for others to understand.
Symbols in Pregnancy and Birth (Part 1): Pregnancy
To begin, I just want to state a simple symbol that I find
interesting in showing that God uses symbols in everything around us that we
may learn and grow and develop faith if we open our eyes to see.
The number forty is a symbol of trial. Moses and the children of Isreal wandered for
forty years. In Noah’s day the rains came down for forty days and flooded
the earth. Christ fasted for 40 days.
It just so happens that pregnancy is forty weeks.
Pregnancy and birth from the beginning was meant to be difficult.
In the story of Adam and Eve, when both had partaken of the forbidden
fruit, something happened. God cursed them. What did he curse them
with? Gen 3:17-19, "...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it
bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground,,," in
other words, difficulty in producing food for his family. For Eve, Gen
3:16, "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children...", showing the
difficulty that would come with having children, which in my opinion, was her
desire and reasoning for partaking of the fruit in the first place. Both
Adam and Eve were given a curse upon in producing "fruit", food for
the man and children for the women.
A tree is a common symbol within the scriptures that is used over
and over. A common symbol with the tree is the fruit which it holds.
It just so happens that a placenta is a lot like a tree in the way it
functions. A tree has a trunk that takes
nutrients to the fruit through the fruit’s stem until the fruit is ready to let
go. The placenta has a main blood source that stems out into many
branches around the placenta and this blood source is what connects mother to
baby through the umbilical cord and provides nutrients to the baby, or my
"fruit". The tree takes the nutrients and creates fruit.
If the tree lacks of nutrients or takes in toxins then the fruit will be
affected, just as my baby is affected by what I take into my body.
A while back, I studied fasting and fast offerings. It has
many similarities to pregnancy and birth. You are putting your body in a
physical "starvation" as you give your nutrients to your baby, just
as one who fasts. And then paying a fast
offering is a way giving what I have to those in need who cannot provide for
themselves, just as I am giving of myself (physically) to a baby who cannot
provide for itself while in my womb.
Fasting also gives you the opportunity to be spiritually
heightened to receive certain blessings and answers in life. I believe
that is also similar to pregnancy. Going through initiatories in the
temple while pregnant with Molly, I recognized how interesting the words to the
initiatory are. They talk a lot about the body and its functions.
During pregnancy, your body changes. All of a sudden your nose is
comparable to that of a blood hound, your taste buds crave foods that you've
never craved before and hates foods that you've never hated before, you get an
eye exam after you have a baby because it can often change, and after your baby
is born your ears all of a sudden become strangely sensitive to being able to
hear your baby squeak when before you could sleep through a rock concert if you
wanted, and OBVIOUSLY your "loins" are changed during the process. Your body and senses are heightened with
pregnancy.
Not going to lie, these heightened senses are generally not a
wanted or desirable thing to most women, It is considered a burden and
uncomfortable when it hits you like a wall and you find yourself vomiting at
the sight or smell of cooked broccoli or ground beef. Just as any
experience that you have in life expands your mind and helps you have greater
understanding of something new that you never realized before, this is the
same. Your senses perceive something different and new (perhaps heavenly),
a new level of understanding that perhaps is hard for our Earthly bodies to
take in. Just like when you are in a dark room for a long time and then
someone turns on the light and you almost can't stand the way the light feels
on your eyes. It feels uncomfortable. It hurts. It seems like
a burden. But it’s light. Alma 32:35, "O then, is not this
real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is
good, because it is discernible". Light is good, it helps you to
discern. Darkness is not good. We need the light, even if sometimes
it hurts. It helps you to "discern" or understand something you
didn't understand before. Such as
empathy for others who are going through similar things. Perhaps it even helps us to have a small
understanding of life beyond the veil which is not comprehendible to us on
Earth because we have forgotten and don’t realize what kind of potential and
knowledge that heaven holds. But it is waiting
for us to seek that knowledge and understanding even if it is uncomfortable or even
hurts. But that's how we get the fruit
in the end. And the fruit is worth it.
To perhaps take that further, you have much more vivid dreams
while pregnant. I've been trying to study a lot about dreams and visions.
I still don't have answers as of yet. All I know is that I've been
one to dream and I do believe that many dreams have meaning. There are certain dreams in my life that have
meant a lot to me spiritually in guiding and directing me. Being pregnant
gives you an ability to have heightened dreams. I believe that if you had
the faith or even desire, with the heightened ability to dream, you could truly
see things and feel things and be given insights to things that are beyond this
realm. Dreams are given throughout scriptures as a way God communicates
with his sons and daughters, why not us? Having a being so close to God
within you and having your body be the gateway between Heaven and Earth, I
believe it gives you an opening to God. Your senses are opened. Your mind
is opened. Your ability to communicate is opened.
Fasting is denying yourselves of certain physical needs for spiritual
growth. But just as "natural birthing" isn't going to do you a
lot of good spiritually if in your mind you don't do more than "endure the
pain", so it is the same with fasting. The scriptures talk about how
fasting without the right mind is worthless, unless of course you are “as the
hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may
appear unto men to fast” (Matt 6:16) seeking praises of men for their “spirituality”
…then in that case, I guess you get or at least feel like you are getting what
you want. We need to understand and then sincerely seek “that He will
consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare
of thy soul.” (2 Nephi 32:9) Like Elder
Uchdorf recently taught in General Conference, we just need to “close the
umbrella so we can receive the shower of heavenly blessings.” Otherwise, we will
go through the experience and miss the opportunity of connecting with God.
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