I attended Christian Science Sunday School during my childhood until the age of twenty, and I had the privilege of growing up in a home where this teaching was lived and practiced. With the help of Science, shyness, teen-age problems, difficult relationships, and the choice of a profession were beautifully resolved.
When our first child was expected, I wrote to an authorized Christian Science nurse, who advised us on how to prepare ourselves to receive and welcome the child into our home. This practical information was of great value to us. I also dedicated daily time to deepening my spiritual concepts of creator, fatherhood, motherhood, and children. With the help of Concordances to the Bible and to Mrs. Eddy's writings, I was able to think of the birth as being a very natural occurrence. I needed to realize that I effortlessly reflected the spiritual quality of joy, and then I found myself expressing adaptability and freedom from pressure. I could trust God, divine Life, to support and sustain both me and the child.
When the birth was imminent, I went to a hospital. In addition to having the strong backing of my mother, mother-in-law, and husband, I carried with me passages from the Bible and from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. This verse from Isaiah was included (66:9): "Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God." I also pondered the paragraph under the marginal heading "Scientific obstetrics" found on page 463 of Science and Health (lines 5-20).
