Testimony of Healing September 18, 1995 Issue

Natural childbirth

Jennifer Ball Wolf with contributions from Robert C. Wolf

Natural childbirth. No medication. Friends and neighbors could not believe that I would choose to have a baby this way, but as a lifelong Christian Scientist it was only natural for me to turn to God for help during my pregnancies. I had learned from a very young age that God would be my help in any situation.

When my husband and I found out we were expecting our first child, we immediately called a Christian Science practitioner to pray with us for the next nine months. The practitioner helped me see that I needed to begin immediately to establish my understanding that the baby was God's child, and that both of us had our own identity in our Father-Mother God. A statement from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures made this very clear: "Whatever reflects Mind, Life, Truth, and Love, is spiritually conceived and brought forth; but the statement that man is conceived and evolved both spiritually and materially, or by both God and man, contradicts this eternal truth" (p. 303). I did not have any discomfort during the first few months.

As the fetus grew, it appeared to be getting too big for me. When it kicked a certain way I was very uncomfortable. This statement helped a great deal in healing this: "Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of Mind" (ibid., p. 124). Cohesion meant to me in this case everything fitting together perfectly; there could not be any overlapping or overcrowding, because as ideas of God, the baby and I reflected divine harmony. Once I realized this, there was no more discomfort when the baby moved.

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I was born and raised in a Christian Scientist family