I hear ya bowlingball. I had one friend who when I was pregnant was so positive all the time and it was fantastic, such a support. Every time I spoke to her she used to say things like "Oh it's so exciting, I can't wait, you're going to love it, it's so special," and so on. And do you know what, she was right. I do love it. I basically ignored all the negativity because it wasn't in any way helpful and it was spoiling my pregnancy.
And, in the interests of positivity let me tell you that:
I had a six hour labour, only gas and air, minimal tearing and it was really great. Painful, but an amazing experience.
DS (now 5 weeks) is a lovely placid baby who is currently in his swing smiling and listening to music. Looking after him is far far easier than some of the shitty jobs that I've had in my time. Yes sleep deprivation is hard but it really isn't the end of the world and it's not forever. DS was a very bad sleeper at the beginning but he slept really well last night and so did I so I feel great.
The joy of having a little one is really unparalleled and seeing my DH holding him gives me a pain in my chest it's so lovely.
I get huge satisfaction out of bathing, changing and feeding DS as I feel it's all worthwhile, whereas other things I've done, for jobs etc feel so pointless.
I had a bit of a problem getting DS to latch at first but once that was sorted I had no problem whatsoever BFing. No pain at all, no cracked nipples, no infections (yet) and I love doing it.
I don't think people mean to be annoying when they go on about the negatives, and I think the only thing you can do is smile and ignore. I honestly think a lot of the stress I experienced in the first few weeks was from the negativity of others as I kept expecting things to get worse when in fact they never did. I actually find looking after DS quite easy but then I'm aware he's an easy baby. Just take it all as it comes, every baby is different and no one can predict what it will be like for you.