Unpleasant things

So I've had sort of a one-track mind the past few weeks. Well, maybe three-track. All I think about is labor, delivery, and baby. I checked out "What To Expect the First Year" from the library and it's been like some horror novel that I just can't put down, or a horror novel that I have to put down because it's too overwhelming. Which is kind of ironic because it seems like almost all of the book is spent reassuring you that things are normal and your baby will be fine.

As I've been fixated on these three ideas, the thing that I've started to realize is that the world is set up in kind of a funny way where pain and unpleasant things are often preferable to the alternative. For example, let's take labor. Labor sounds painful and miserable and terrifying with or without an epidural. Yet every time I feel something painful that may be a tiny contraction, I basically punch the air out of joy. Why? Cuz it means I'll have a baby soon! I would rather have that pain than not because of what it means. (Of course, I wouldn't mind if magically I was one of those people who didn't have painful labors.)

And then once you have the baby, well, they're a lot of work. Yet much as I don't really like the sound of crying, I am pretty sure that I would rather hear that baby let out a heartrending wail when he comes out than not.  And then I'd rather have to change a ton of nasty diapers in a day than deal with the alternative -- that he's not getting enough to eat. Or down the road, I'd rather deal with a fussy baby because he's teething than deal with a toothless wonder for a child. (Okay, they probably can fix that sort of thing, but it'd be better to have things as normal as possible.)

It's just such a bizarre paradigm shift. My whole life I've tried to make things as unpainful as possible. Yet now here I am, almost welcoming pain and unpleasant things because I know that they mean a lot more good things are coming. Gives a lot more meaning to "opposition in all things."