The stages in the formation of the baby, conception, gestation, and birth, correspond to three stages in the formation of good deeds: thought, will, and action. Just as there is anguish involved in childbirth, so too, a person who intends to do a good deed in its entirety is required to exert himself and suffer.

A person’s good deeds are called his children:

Observe that which the Sages said: A person’s good deeds are called children (Tanĥuma, Noah 2). The truth is that they are indeed alike. There are three stages to childbirth prior to the actual emergence of the child: conception, gestation, and birth, and that which happens to a woman occurs likewise to a person serving the Creator, with regard to his progeny, i.e., his good deeds. The same three stages are necessary: first in the concealed realm of thought, then will, and then complete action, and this is the mystery of birth.

The pain of childbirth and the effort of raising children are also aspects of the performance of good deeds:

Therefore, it is like the case of a woman who, when she comes close to giving birth, begins crying out from the pain of the birth contractions. Afterward there is also the pain of raising children. Likewise, much anguish comes to a person before he completes an action for no other purpose than to serve God alone. [With] all this, perhaps [he will succeed]. (Rabbi Zev Wolf of Zhitomir, Or HaMe’ir, Koraĥ)

A young hasid approached Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh, son of the Ba’al Shem Tov, and asked him to instruct him in the service of God so that he could reach the level of a saintly person.

Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh said to him: “Certainly you know So-and-So, the wealthy man, whose father was a very wealthy man and left him a great fortune. Once, someone came to him and asked for his advice regarding how to become rich. The wealthy man said to him: ‘I have no idea how to become rich; I inherited my wealth from my father. Go and ask another wealthy person, one who became wealthy with his own two hands, and ask him.’”

“I am the same,” concluded Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh. “My holy father toiled so that I would be given a lofty soul, and he bequeathed to me his spiritual powers; I did not labor for this. Go to a saintly person who was born to simple people and who reached his level through his own labor and ask him how to do it.”

When the soul comes to this world, it is anguished about the fact that it has been dispatched from the world of delight, merriment, and happiness, and placed in this world. Therefore, when a person emerges from his mother’s womb he cries, because the soul is crying about its arrival in this world. (Rabbi Levi Yitzĥak of Berditchev, Kedushat Levi, Likutim)