Manava Dharmashastra 2.227

2.227

bhūtārthānuvādeneyamaparā praśaṃsā | kleśaṃ duḥkhaṃ mātā ca pitā ca na nṛṇāmapatyānāṃ sambhave garbhātprabhṛti yāvaddaśamādūrdhvān | mātuḥ kleśaḥ garbhadhāraṇam | prasavaḥ prāṇaharaḥ strīṇām | jātasya ca saṃvardhanayogaḥ kleśaḥ | sa sarvasya svayaṃ saṃvedyaḥ | piturapyupanayanātprabhṛti ā vedārthavyākhyānāt | sambhavaśabdenātra garbhādhānamucyate | taddhi na kleśāvaham, kiṃ tarhi taduttarakālabhāvinya etāḥ kriyāḥ, tā hi kleśasādhyāḥ | na tasya kleśasya niṣkṛtirānṛṇyaṃ pratyupakārasamatvaṃ śakyaṃ kartuṃ varṣaśatairjanmabhirbahubhiḥ, kiṃ punarekena janmanā | asaṃkhyeyadhanadānena mahatyā vā''pada uddharaṇena mātāpitrorniṣkṛtiriti |

The trouble that the parents undergo in the birth of children,—for that there can be no compensation even in a hundred years.—(227)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
This is another commendatory statement describing a past event.

‘Trouble’—pain;—‘Parents’–‘father and mother’;—‘of children’—of their offsprings. ‘At the birth’—from conception up to the tenth year of their age. The ‘trouble’ of the mother consists in the bearing of the child in the womb; then again, parturition endangers the very life of women. After the birth of the child, there follows the trouble of rearing him; all this is known by all persons in their own experience. For the father also there is ‘trouble’ beginning with Upanayana and ending in the explanation of the meaning of Vedic texts.

The term ‘birth’ here cannot mean conception; as this act entails no trouble at all; what are meant are all the acts that follow the act of conceiving, all which are troublesome.

‘For that’—trouble—‘there can be no compensation’—payment of the debt; the repayment of the benefits conferred; this cannot be done ‘even in a hundred years’—i.e., even during several lives; what to say of a single life! There may be some compensation for parents if one presents them with innumerable wealth or saves them from a very great calamity.—(227)