Paul uses a metaphor by which he suggests that the Galatians need to be converted all over again. He sees himself as their spiritual mother now having to give a second birth. Elsewhere he is presented as the spiritual father of Christian converts (1 Corinthians 4:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:11; Philemon 1:10).1
19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!