Editor's Note: D. Barbara McWhite grew up in York County, S.C., and lives in Orange Park, Fla., with her husband and cat. Her columns is published on this website each Tuesday. Opinions expressed are solely her own.

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I recently went to the hospital to visit a friend who had just given birth to a baby.

Ahhh...there she was. So tiny, helpless and cute. Skin so soft. Delicate creases and folds. And that new baby smell. You could almost eat the little thing.

And there was the mother, all smiles and joy. Her eyes hazy with adoration as she gazed in rapt attention to her newborn daughter, declaring how blessed she feels to have this tiny life to nurture and raise.

Watching this new mom, I re-lived my own beginnings with my children. It seemed as if the angels had descended from heaven and given me a most wonderful gift on the day they were born.

Well, folks, it has been 30 years now since I had my first child, and if I am honest I would have to say -- and I have to be careful here -- I believe God plays tricks on us.

I believe there is a divine conspiracy that surrounds childbearing...beginning with conception.

When done right, few things are as much fun as the act that leads to conception. Other than a good piece of cheesecake, nothing can rival an afternoon tryst or an early morning wake-up call for its pleasure quotient. Sex is designed to make us drop our guard and forget that out of that infinitely pleasurable act may come a baby.

Then comes the morning sickness, the fat belly and mood swings...all leading up to labor and delivery of the child. For most for us, labor is a nightmare. During labor, most of us swear that, if we survive, we will never do it again.

But after many hours of painful labor, we are given that sweet-smelling bundle called a baby and all is forgotten.

Wake up, people! There is a reason babies are so sweet.

The reason is so we won’t realize that we are being duped. The beautiful child that so resembles your side of the family now will likely grow into a hard-headed monster that will, with each passing day, act more and more like her fathers folk.

Don't be fooled by that new-baby smell. Its just like the new-car smell -- designed to make you forget that, if you take it home, you are going to have to make a lot of payments for a lot of years.

We aren't told that those tiny, dimpled hands will one day be used to slam doors and forge our names on report cards.

The soft, unblemished skin that is stroked so lovingly at birth will one day be a billboard for tattoos and piercings.

Those small, vulnerable cries that call new parents to immediate attention will give way to repeated demands for new shoes and phrases like "but all the other kids’ parents let them..."

The soft, curly locks that frame that small, brown face will likely be replaced by tangled braids, orange weave or dreadlocks so nappy that Moses couldn't part them.

Why do you think babies are born without teeth? So you don't think about the dentist and the orthodontic bills that follow.

And I guess it has to be that way. Who among us would have a child if they were born talking back and slamming doors?

Who would have a child if they were born smelling as musky as an 11-year-old's armpits?

Would we change diapers and clean throw-up if babies weren't so small, helpless and cute?

So we are duped time and again by those small strange creatures who grow up to leave us scratching our heads and wondering where we went wrong.

But we never stop loving them, and in our minds they are forever our babies. Then one day, before we know it, they have lives of their own. And if we are lucky, they give us grandbabies.

And the beat goes on...

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