In the Baha'i Faith we are taught that the Biblical Eden story is a sacred myth which is largely allegorical and can be interpreted on a number of levels. I see it as basically the story of humankind's "coming-of-age", where we attained our present stage of development. Where we became truly conscious of such things as violence and death and sexuality, and those became
moral issues, rather than the simple instinct-driven facts of life they are for other creatures on this planet.
It can also be seen as the story of every individual human soul as it leaves the innocence of childhood and develops into a fully-conscious, rational soul responsible for its own choices between good and evil.
As for the childbirth question, I believe that the pain
most women experience in childbirth comes from our physiology, which was set well before the time of the Eden story (5000-6000 years ago). Pain is just a part of this life that we must all go through. It teaches us lessons that pleasure cannot. Things like detachment, meekness, humility, trust, patience. Without pain and sorrow, we wouldn't recognize peace or joy, just as Adam and Eve, not knowing sin and evil, neither knew virtue and good.
Baha'is don't believe in human pre-existence on an individual basis, so that makes this life the first we experience as individual souls clothed in human bodies. We don't believe in original sin. God's plan for us has never changed, as it is perfect, and so there was never a time when humans were anything other than... human. Even before humanity evolved to its modern physical form, our souls have always been distinctly human, different from any other created being, either animal or angel. Perhaps there was a time when our heads were smaller...
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