I have pondered many times about the first pregnancy of the entire human race. Eve was the pioneer woman of pregnancies. She didn’t have a mom she could go home to and ask questions. She had no pregnancy help books. She was writing the first book of pregnancies. She was the only woman. I do not feel Adam would have been much help. He had to have been pretty clueless at this also. I wonder did he understand her mood swings? Did he grasp the wonder of another human growing inside her belly? He didn’t know her ankles would swell. All she had was the wisdom of her Creator, and He was all she needed.
The post below is just my musings on what that first pregnancy must have been like.
“ADAM MADE LOVE TO HIS WIFE EVE, AND SHE BECAME PREGNANT AND GAVE BIRTH TO CAIN. SHE SAID, “WITH THE HELP OF THE LORD I HAVE BROUGHT FORTH A MAN.” LATER SHE GAVE BIRTH TO HIS BROTHER ABEL.” GENESIS 4:1-2
Adam and Eve did make a way for themselves. They built a home. They planted a garden as He had taught them. Their days were hard and long. Sometimes thorns and thistles overtook their vegetable garden. Adam would have to go hunt for food for their table. After one long day tilling and working in the ground sore and tired, Adam came in to sit. “I have news,” Eve came to him. “I am pregnant.” Adam gathered her into his arms and kissed her. No matter how hard his day had been. No matter how tired he was, when she spoke he melted. He remembered the command from the LORD GOD, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth.” Her words brought back purpose to his dry life. He held her close and whispered, “You are Eve. Life springs from you. From now on you will be known as the mother of all living. I will do whatever you ask to make this easier on you,” Adam proclaimed to Eve. She smiled. She knew he believed that in his heart, but it wasn’t so. It wasn’t in his power to fulfill that declaration. It would never be so again. That was her consequence of eating the forbidden fruit.
Her pregnancy was not easy. She woke up nauseous most everyday. Adam worried because during the mornings she couldn’t keep anything in her stomach. Most days he left her lying in bed as he head out to work the ground. “Can I bring you anything before I leave?” “I’m fine,” she groaned. He knew she wasn’t . “This is how the LORD GOD said it would be. It is part of my punishment. He said and I quote, “I will greatly multiply your grief and your suffering in pregnancy.” His words ring in my head every morning.” The LORD GOD looked on. He heard her words. He noted all her cries. And He whispered, “I see you. I am here.”
Eve finally began to feel herself again after a few months. She called her sickness morning sickness but at least that seemed to have passed. She began to notice a slight bulge in her belly. Seriously, now what is this? Man what she wouldn’t give to have one of those walks during the cool of the day with the LORD GOD. She needed Him to teach her about all this. At that moment she felt a small jolt inside her stomach. She laughed. It didn’t hurt. In fact, it was peaceful, it was right. She knew exactly what it was. The baby growing inside her was showing her that he had life. And she also knew the LORD GOD was beside her still teaching her. She had to tell Adam.
From then on Adam and Eve would lie together at night with his hand on her abdomen waiting for that sign of life growing in her. It did not matter how hard his day had been, he forgot all his struggles trying to get this ground to produce, when he felt this baby kick inside of her he forgot.
Eve went back to being at Adam’s side. She worked side by side with him most days. They struggled together to get this dry dusty earth to produce one tree bearing fruit. They both longed for Eden. You couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a tree. They had food aplenty in that garden. But they had made their bed and they were now living with their choice. But they always heard the call of Eden.
Eve’s pregnancy was now well advanced. The baby would definitely be here soon. Man was she uncomfortable. Her stomach got in the way. Her ankles were swollen. “What is up with that?” she thought. She waddled when she walked, and she couldn’t sleep at night. She knew she was irritible and grouchy but she didn’t care. She knew Adam was trying to avoid her foul mode swings. But if she had to be uncomfortable she wanted him to feel her pain also.
Adam watched her from the corner of his eye. She was down on her knees, digging in the dirt. He watched her slowly stand and stretch her back. He knew how uncomfortable she was in this heat. He also knew it wasn’t meant to be this hard. He longed for Eden. He wanted to take her back to the way it was before their disobedience. He longed for the days of their innocence together in the garden walking with the LORD GOD. Then he heard that still small voice coming from the depths of his heart, “I am here. I will never leave you.” “Thank you LORD,” Adam whispered. At that moment Adam saw her double over in pain. Water flowed down her legs. He knew her time had come. His child was about to enter this world. He rushed to Eve and helped her lie down. He had helped deliver many lambs since leaving Eden, but this was different. This was his wife now. This was his child coming into the world. He felt helpless and unsure. He felt each of her pains. He watched each spasm. He could see her distress. “Are you ok?” was all he could think to ask. Eve looked at him. Really. She wanted to pull his bottom lip over his head and ask him if that hurt. Instead she dug her nails into his hand and brought blood. That made her feel a little better. Adam kept quiet from then on. He learned to count between her spasms instead. He noticed they were coming more quickly. He got ready to see his child. He told Eve she would have to push when he told her too. She did. She was exhausted but on the third attempt to push she heard the cry. She heard the cry of her newborn son. Adam wrapped him in swaddling cloth and laid the baby in her arms. The moment she held her son she knew she would do it all over again. “So this is what it felt like that day the LORD GOD carried me to Adam,” she pondered this in her heart.
That night the three lay together under the stars, the father, the mother and the son. They had acquired a son. They gave the baby the name, Cain. Adam and Eve thanked God. Eve spoke to the heavens, “This day I have acquired a man with the help of the LORD.” There was pride in her voice as she said it. She thought about the day the LORD GOD formed her. Adam was also thinking about the day the LORD GOD breathed that breath of life into him. He knew he had been created in the image of God. In the image of God he had been created and now they had created another man. He held his young family in his arms that night with great pride.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit watched over this night as they did every day and night. They knew that forbidden fruit would continuously poison Adam and Eve’s veins. And now that poison flowed through the baby’s veins. “There is only one antidote for this poison,” the Son spoke with obedience brimming in His words.