>“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children"

Is conception tied to sorrow or is conception merely multiplied? Example:

 - I will greatly multiply your sorrow *[but]*
      
 - I will multiply your conception
          
 - In pain you shall bring forth children

Would the multiplication of conception be redemptive to the sorrow? Because conception and bringing forth children are two separate acts. One is pregnancy; one is full-term labor.

> **John 16:21** A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 

So, the multiplication of children would be a joyful thing, even if labor is awful. 

See, I'm just not convinced at the traditional idea that Eve's punishment was painful labor, and that without sin there would be no labor pains at all. I don't see how a woman can not have labor pains because, well. . .biology. A lot of contractions and dilations are going on to give birth to an 8 or 9lb baby. I also believe the fall was necessary or at least foreseen, and so no matter what, childbirth would have been painful, regardless of Eve being deceived and falling into transgression.

God states "I" claiming He will do a specific thing: "*I* will multiply your sorrow"; "*I* will multiple your conception"; but *I* does not seem to be connected to painful labor: this reads more like a statement. It doesn't read, "*I* will give you painful labor" it reads more like a heads up, childbirth is going to hurt. Additionally, though I didn't quote it *I* is not connected with man ruling over woman: this also reads like a statement. Seems to me that painful childbirth and the male-female hierarchy were already formerly established and are natural law, not punishments. 

Is the only real punishment here the fact that Eve now has multiplied sorrow?