Clerics thundered that it was a woman's God-given duty to suffer the pain of labor.

WSJ: Amanda Foreman on the Continued Gender Tug-of-War

And labor, with accompanying pain, fast heartbeat and hormonal changes, "that's the most dangerous and challenging time, " Dr. Franklin says.

WSJ: Facing Lifesaving Heart Surgery, Twice

While the private sector is adding jobs at a pace that at least satisfies most economists, the public labor force is in pain.

FORBES: The Unemployment Hurdle: Public Jobs

If you include vaginal deliveries, more than half of all pregnant women receive this type of medication to reduce pain during labor and delivery.

CNN: Can C-section anesthetic lead to low back pain?

But management and labor worked through the shared pain, and things are looking pretty good at Ford these days.

FORBES: Lead Like the Debtors in D.C.? Well, Maybe Some of Them . . .

But the move would help the board and management make a better case to labor unions that they are spreading the pain to other GM constituents, including shareholders and executives, whose ranks are also shrinking while merit pay raises are being eliminated.

FORBES: GM's Bumpy Ride

In every conversation, the pain point was about finding skilled labor.

FORBES: How 108 Year Old J.W. Hulme Is Reinvesting In America's Manufacturing Roots

For instance, misoprostol, a drug used to induce labor, was approved as a Pfizer treatment for pain and inflammation, never as a medicine to be used in childbirth.

FORBES: New Drug To Prevent Pre-Term Birth Approved

To reap the long-term benefits of financial reform, China must endure the short-term pain of a severe credit crunch--just as it needs to support industry to curb labor unrest.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

When individuals in other nations suffer the economic pain of inflation through declining investment, we too hurt for the natural expansion of the global division of labor that authors our economic specialization being halted to varying degrees.

FORBES: Bernanke's Confusion Is Our Economic Ill Health