There's something that's supposed to be a Swedish saying about being a parent that I had to stick into just about every speech I did for someone: "Certain sorrow, uncertain joy".

Having them about does indeed change your life, hugely. But, if you're lucky, there are even bigger compensations. David also had several advantages including being able to see, roughly, what he was getting into, rather than hoping to win the baby lottery

David, if you want to answer this, how often have you gone 'I could walk away from this...' even if you'd never actually do so? It's what helped me in my time as a non-parental adult.