"Exploiting My Baby": A chat with Teresa Strasser
By Malia Karlinsky, GalTime.com
Teresa Strasser is gal on a mission, giving us a no-holds barred account about her pregnancy-- and making it real and relatable. The funny lady that some have coined "The Jewish Carrie Bradshaw" has experienced something that Sex and the City character never did-first time motherhood.
Strasser, an Emmy winning writer and media personality gives you a girlfriend grade guide to the humorous highs and lows of first-time motherhood in her new book "Exploiting My Baby: A Memoir of Pregnancy and Childbirth." In it she talks about all the subjects you didn't hear at the baby shower: leaking breasts, uncontrollable gas… and those "helpful" people you want to punch.
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Strasser started her journey into mommy-hood at age 38, complete with a thriving career and the perfect husband. What she quickly found was a gaping hole in the world of mom-to-be books. Between the cloying, the overly clinical and the "motherhood sucks" tomes she thought there was something missing. Her authentic and honest blog about her own pregnancy gave birth to a book.
Today, Strasser is the mom of a one-year old boy and co-host of the Adam Carolla radio show. GalTime sat down with her to get the scoop on finding the funny in pregnancy.
GalTime: What has been the most surprising thing about the process of having a baby?
Strasser: I think the first year shocker was the level of sleep deprivation. It was like astral projection level fatigue - I felt like I was floating above my body. Now I know how medical students feel.
GalTime: What inspired you to write this book?
Strasser: There are lots of clinical books about pregnancy symptoms, and same lame books about how to laminate your ultrasound photos, but I wanted to write a memoir in the style of traditional memoirs that just happens to cover the period of pregnancy and childbirth.For me, most of the story was about fear. Fear that something was wrong with the baby, fear that I would loathe the experience of motherhood, or be terribly bored by it, because that's what I saw growing up with my mom.
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GalTime: You have some chapters on "People I Want To Punch"-who are these people and what makes you want to sock them?
Strasser: Bummer Ladies: Ladies that tell pregnant women how much their lives are about to suck -- they may be right, but c'mon, keep your mouth shut.
Just Grateful for a Healthy Baby: People who have no gender preference. What phonies! I'm kidding. Bless them. They are superior.
People Who Won't Tell Me What To Do: The most annoying advice I got when I was pregnant, about everything from how to choose a hospital to how to select a car seat: "You have to do what's right for you." Well, I have no idea what's right for me. Could you just tell me what car seat to buy so I could move on with my life?
GalTime: What's the deal with you and Entertainment Tonight's Nancy O'Dell?
Strasser: Her book made me nuts. Out of jealousy. Her worst pregnancy symptom? Extra luminous skin! Her worst problem? The first choice fabric for her nursery curtain was on back order, so her decorator had to go with the second choice! These are first world problems.
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GalTime: Any negative backlash from Moms?
Strasser: No. This is the first time in my career when no one has come after me. The reviews on my Amazon page, and elsewhere, have been pretty awesome. I'm waiting for someone to call me a big nose, tranny, unfunny, shrew -- but when it comes to my writing career, as opposed to radio, readers don't seem as angry. Trolls must enjoy radio more.
GalTime: Are you finding as much great material as the mom of a toddler as you did as a pregnant gal? Will there be an Exploiting My Toddler book?
Strasser: If this one sells, maybe. It's so much work, though. And even though the reviews have been glowing, unless you're Snooki, it's hard to sell books. My dream is that this will be the go-to gift for all your pregnant friends. If a girl ever gets two copies of "Exploiting My Baby" at her shower, I'll be psyched.
GalTime: What's next for you?
Strasser: Laundry
LA based Stasser shares her favorite places with GalTime readers:
Favorite place for coffee with a Mom friend: Cafecito on Hoover and Bellevue
Best playground: The top of the Peterson Automotive Museum on Wilshire. They have an entire floor for kids. It's brilliant.
Favorite shop for non-mom jeans: Hardware on Larchmont. Cheap, cheap, cheap. I have these black lace shorts from there I wear constantly.
Essential "status" items moms in LA need to have? Swaddle cloths by Aden + Anais -- they have the perfect blend of cotton and linen. Must have.
Teresa Strasser talks about the trials and tribulations of mommy-hood on her blog, on Yahoo! Shine and in her new book "Exploiting My Baby: A Memoir of Pregnancy and Childbirth".
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