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There's got to be a good reason why birth is painful, right? You can get technical and medical and explain the process. You can get very simplistic and say that the bottom line is that when you push something very big though a hole that is very, very small (no matter HOW stretchy), it hurts. Or, you can go with some prevailing playground theories, because heck, once you actually have the kid, that's where you do the real talking, the playground.

Playground Theory 1: Mommy to Mommy Bonding

You need a common bonding experience with the other moms. The first time you roll your stroller onto the playground, you are a little shy. You exchange pleasantries, you peek at one another's strollers and you coo at one another's babies and you talk about whether your baby is sleeping through the night. The next time you visit your neighborhood playground and you see the same moms there, it's serious. You know these are the gals you'll be seeing for the next few years and you'll probably be wiping snot off these kids' noses as well as yours, so you might as well get personal with these gals. What better way to bond then by sharing your war story; and, you've all got one. It's time to bust out the epidural/no epidural, birth plan/no birth plan, and so on sagas that you are dying to share. Before long, you are lifelong friends. If the pain wasn't so harrowing; if it wasn't such a ridiculously life-changing experience, it wouldn't make a great story, right?

Playground Theory 2: Mommy to Baby Bonding

You love your baby. No, you really, really, love your baby. There's no question about it. But, you know how you never really know someone until you've travelled with them? This is sort of like that. You need to really, really let your kid rip you to shreds, pummel your body from the inside out and still come out of the whole experience alive in order to realize how much you can still love him. Want to know why? Because that kid is going to do the same thing to you emotionally every day for the rest of his life and you'd better be prepared for it!

Playground Theory 3: To Annoy Daddy

Let's face it, most Daddies cringe at a hangnail. In reality, they'd likely keel over and die if they so much as had to endure a period, let alone childbirth. And, when they watch us give birth, they know, deep down, that we are wonder-women and that because of what we've accomplished for our children, we are, and always will be, bonded to our children and that, darn it, we are tougher than them. If they are real men, they admit to the fact that they can never compare to our fortitude and they bow to the power of us women. If they are sad, sad men, they pass out.

They are a million reasons why the pain of labor is so excruciating; but only one reason why it is so wonderful, your child. The

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