Waiting for Baby Bliss
- Isabella Campolattaro
- Oct 8
- 3 min read
I’ve been thinking about childbirth lately. I have two teenagers, Pierce, who is 18, and Isaac, who is 15. I had both by C-section. Pierce was two weeks late and frank breech—folded like a book in my belly. At a routine check-up, the doctor scheduled a C-section for that afternoon, so I missed the whole “water breaking” experience altogether.
I wanted to do a VBAC with Isaac (for those who don’t know, that’s a vaginal birth after C-section). My water broke, and I did go into labor. I’m a pretty tough cookie with a high pain threshold, but just one hour of labor revealed what a wimp I really am. I gratefully accepted an epidural, and since the labor wasn’t progressing, they performed another C-section. Even my surgeries and recoveries were incredibly easy, and the only thing that would’ve made them better would’ve been a tummy tuck and liposuction while they were at it.
I’m totally humbled by the countless women who endure the travails of labor to deliver their babies—many without any pain relief at all—until that moment when that precious baby is delivered and all the agony of the prior hours and the discomfort of the months before vanish in an instant. The mother is flooded with exquisite love for her newborn child.
Though I didn’t experience that whole painful trajectory firsthand, I sweetly recall lying alert on the operating table, watching the surreal surgical exit of my boys—a beautiful experience punctuated by the elation of that first gooey cuddle in the surgical suite, suitably numbed from the waist down.
GROANING FOR DELIVERY
“For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” — Romans 8:22 (NLT)
I can easily imagine that this is what Jesus was capturing when He compared sorrow to childbirth and joy to new birth—and what Paul later reiterates.
In John, Jesus describes the incredible joy His followers would feel when He rose on the third day—delivered from the clutches of death. Back then, the believers experienced the vindication of their faith, the restoration of their friend and leader whom they grieved, and the unparalleled promise of eternal life. Yet His words also point forward—to the ultimate relief and rejoicing that will flood creation when He returns in glory and every tear is wiped away.
NEW BEGINNINGS EVERY DAY
“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” — 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
Paul also speaks of the labor pains we’re enduring even now—the groaning of our humanity and this suffering planet and the beleaguered Christ-followers who are awaiting the exquisite end to the story, which signals a fresh start in a big way.
Many of us experienced a rush of exquisite elation when we first meet Jesus, as I did, and have many times since with each renewal.
And in recovery, we often talk about new life—the chance to begin again with God’s gracious help. Each day we surrender, a new beginning in Him: hope, healing, and quiet strength to keep going.
As we wait for that ultimate new earth and new heaven, we get to experience the miraculous new life available to us every day in Christ—the One who restores, redeems, and delivers on His promises, even while we wait for the ultimate hope.
THE ULTIMATE REBIRTH
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.” — Revelation 21:1 (NLT)
Deliverance is coming. Can you feel it—the world trembling, creation contracting, heaven leaning closer?
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