Is anybody else watching Pregnant in Heels? The show about Rosie Pope (a “maternity concierge”) and her agenda to make Manhattan women look horribly unprepared for motherhood? I started watching it for Mommy Shorts research purposes only. SWEAR.
After about eight episodes, I think I finally have it down:
Rosie enters the home of some fancy schmancy momma-to-be, gives the woman a “Mommy IQ Quiz” in which she produces pre-pooped on diapers and then acts shocked when the woman reacts with disgust. Rosie then discovers (horror of horrors) the woman has yet to babyproof her home or set up her nursery. At this point, they cut-away to an interview where Rosie rolls her eyes incessantly and declares the pregnant woman completely incompetent. Psychologists are summoned, baby stores are visited and in the end the woman is able to deliver her child into a perfectly decorated nursery that has all the necessary clothing and supplies for a child up until the age of five.
Oh— and presumably the sockets are spackled over so that they are no longer usable for even the adults.
I think the point of the show is for us all to find these pregnant women ridiculous. And I do. The requests of her supposed clients— baby naming focus groups, nanny selections with Apprentice-style boardroom firings, etc.— are most certainly ridiculous.
But you know what is MORE RIDICULOUS?
Fucking Rosie Pope.
I like Rosie. Sort of. She’s somewhat charming. I like LC. I think he would beat Mr. Jay in a walk-off. But their whole freak-the-crap-out-of-the-parents before they have a child is starting to drive me mad.
This past week I almost had a panic attack watching a soon-to-be stay-at-home Dad try to take care of an infant (a stranger’s child supplied by Rosie) while he prepared for a BBQ at his home later that evening. I have my own child and even I got stressed out watching this guy genuinely crumble. I can only imagine what I would have been thinking if I had still been pregnant. (Editor’s Note: You mean to tell me, you’re the kind of person who would hire a maternity concierge and you are not going to hire yourself a nanny? BULLSHIT. Unless this Mariah Carey nonsense is catching.)
Here’s the thing: I’m Jewish.
Jews are very supersitious when it comes to having a child. We don’t have baby showers. We believe that preparing for a baby to enter the world by buying clothes and decorating a nursery is bad luck. Also— I had my fair share of pregnancy nightmares so I didn’t believe the baby was coming until the baby was actually here.
When Mazzy was born, I had not one baby item in my apartment. Not even a pack of onesies or a pile of diapers. My mom delivered the bare essentials while I was in the hospital. I decorated the nursery by shopping online while I was on maternity leave. We babyproofed when Mazzy started moving after about five months. And you know what? I was just fine.
NEWS FLASH: Babies don’t come out of the womb sticking forks into sockets. You can take this motherhood thing one step at a time.
I’m not saying that it’s easy. I’m just saying we all figure it out as we go. Nothing can really prepare you for having a child except having a child. Not classes. Not books. Not encasing your entire house in bubble wrap while you are still six months pregnant.
And certainly not Rosie Pope.
It’s a good thing I don’t watch this show.
I might want to hurt Rosie.
We did have a baby shower, we had things.
Very few of them were set up before my son was born.
Throughout my entire pregnancy, I waited for something to go wrong. At age 11, an aunt of mine delivered a still born child – full term. They had to return a crib and other items.
Countless friends had miscarriages.
These stories stuck with me.
We had no help the first week, and my son refused to sleep unless someone was holding him – we weren’t really prepared.
But we adapted. Then my mother showed up and life got better.
So yeah. I might want to shoot her if I watched that show.
Ditto on the nanny thing.
Your newsflash is awesome. Some people take babies too seriously. I mean, it’s like my mom said, “You could put them in a drawer and they’d be happy”
Not that I put mine in a drawer.
I have been nesting. I decorated the nursery. I did not buy diapers. One is a fun thing to do, the other is lame.
That’s how I roll baby.
Y’know, I keep seeing this show title pop up and I’ve been tempted to watch.
Not anymore. I might want to gouge my eyes out with a toothpick.
I had a few things prepared – a car seat, onesies, diapers, breast pump, bottles and a stroller. We had nothing else as we had the baby in another country, and only flew back home with him at 16 days. We had no crib, no nursery, no clue. I don’t think a Rosie Pope would have helped me.
Women have been having babies forever and those before us, had nothing. Yet, here we all are. That’s what I kept telling myself.
Methinks those pregnant women in the show just wanted their 5 minutes of fame.
That show was SO entertaining! Sometimes I liked Rosie Pope – other times I thought she might have been projecting some of her feelings of inadequacy related to her infertility onto her clientele.
This post was very educational because I did not know Jewish moms are superstitious and don’t prepare for the baby. I am also completely impressed because I almost had a meltdown when I realized we were THREE PACKS away from running out of diaper wipes in the first month after I brought my son home.
I am not Jewish but am superstitious and lived in a 700 square foot one bedroom apartment. Very little stuff. We did all right. I mean, I had kind of a nervous breakdown but stuff would not have helped that one bit.
God forbid anything horrible happens, I have to imagine it’s a lot easier to come back to your house if there isn’t a fully functional nursery set up and a closet of carefully selected baby clothes.
The biggest mistake I made with purchases for the baby was buying an expensive bassinet. I wish we had just used a basket or the bassinet from our stroller. Or a drawer would have done the trick.
I nested big time but it involved cleaning and doing things for my apartment in general— like hanging pictures and curtains. Also clearing out the room that would become the nursery. It used to be “Mike’s room”.
People need to get a grip. Once again, another example of how people with too much money and time on their hands must find something to obsess about. Babies don’t care how elegantly decorated their nursries may be–they are going to leak diapers and puke peas on the rug and bedding whether it came from a posh NY boutique or the Walmart sale rack.
Shows like that make me want to puke.
Cheers.
VB
I actually cut my post in half. The other half was a bare essentials registry of the only things you absolutely need from the second you get home. It got too long so I’ll post it separately another day. But you really don’t need very much from the beginning. I didn’t even use a bottle till about six weeks in.
I definitely found the show entertaining. Rosie can be funny. She can also be just as over-the-top affected as her clients. And way too much of that stuff seemed staged. Did you see the scene where she plays Guitar Hero to destress after dealing with the musician? That was one of the most awkward things I have ever witnessed in my life.
I was told we shouldn’t even use diaper wipes for the first few weeks. One more thing I didn’t have to worry about immediately.
Even if you do want an elegantly decorated nursery, you don’t have to kill yourself to do it immediately. Mazzy slept in our room for about three months. And by the time she moved into her room, it was super cute.
As far as bedding— you are not even supposed to use any of that stuff in the crib! We have a $15 Carter’s sheet on the mattress and that’s it.
I am so glad I don’t have cable.
Also – I had nothing when baby #1 arrived. Babies need very little. Just a boob and some love..and maybe 5000 diapers.
Dude, like pregnant women need to be more afraid. Talk about manipulating people for your own profit.
THANK YOU!!! I’m tired of friends telling me to watch this ridiculous show. I have nothing except a random onesie and a sippy cup for my upcoming August baby, and I’m ok with that right now. (Although I would love to read a post from you about the only things you absolutely need from the second you get home.) The only person panicking is my mom. Does Rosie do first-time-grandma-to-be concierge services/interventions? That’s a show I would watch.
LOL, was just in Miami attending SheCon last weekend and Rosie Pope was a guest – and a panelist.
The panel was supposed to cover parenting blogging, but she spent 45 minutes going down the road of the irresponsibility of parents allowing their kids on the web after someone asked about kids having blogs.
I have kids with blogs, she has kids in diapers …
She made me want to stick a fork in a socket 😉
From Page 52 from Blah’s Guide to Child-Rearing: Raise your first child like it’s your second.
OMG Rosie Pope is CRAZY! But in a charming British way that makes me hope she soon has a line of baby-proofing products at Target.
I watched this show partly because the @BabyGuyNYC’s play by play tweets were so freakin’ hilarious. After the one show, I was alarmed and disheartened. It felt like an excuse to ridicule expectant moms instead of help scared, soon-to-be moms and lift them up into this important role of motherhood.
I turned it off thinking, we, as women, are so much better than this.
I for one, would have probably been bawling had this show been on when I was expecting. I was alone, my mom had passed 6 years earlier and I probably had at some point thought of every one of those stupid questions her ‘clients’ ask. How dare they poke fun of these people – a little humility and kindness would go a long way for Ms. Pope.
That show is not entertainment it is just sad.
Guess I’m more pissed about it than I thought. Thanks for riling me up. Now I’m going to go kick someone’s ass.
Pregnant women definitely wear flats. I thought I was the only one watching the show who tried to figure out how having guitars int he living room or stilettos on the floor of your closet affected a newborn. These shows are meant to make regular women envy rich women and then feel good about the fact that they are super unprepared. Though sometimes entertaiing Rosie exhibits some douche qualaties.
I couldn’t agree more! When I came home from the hospital my house wasn’t all the way put together either and I/we survived. I don’t think a maternity concierge is a bad thing if you have the dollaz for it, but I do roll my eyes at a lot of her advice. I agree on the babyproofing – seriously, the kid doesn’t move for months! I loved when she was telling the women not to wear heels, but wear wedges. Don’t even get me started on the baby naming focus group! Really, they just should’ve called me – I branded my child with the strangest name ever!
I con’t watch this show from here…
but you made me really curious !
🙂
This is, I believe, intended to poke fun at the “high class” moms here in NYC…and believe it or not…they exist. Much like Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother, it’s an exaggerated reality. Not “really” true…but just as frighteningly close as it can be.
The reality is that these moms to be AND moms are out of their flocking minds. Signing up for preschool BEFORE the baby is born, getting a baby nurse who meets you AT the hospital during labor. This show ACTUALLY shows moms being more hands on in NYC than they actually are. I can only imagine the nannies who are just off camera waiting for the reality shot to be in the can. So Rosie Pope’s show is showing an entertaining side of the crazy. I just walk the streets of the crazy every day….and trust me, none of those moms are pushing the stroller.
This runs much deeper for me. It leads me to be angry where we’ve taken ourselves as a society. People used to only need food, milk and blankets for their babies and they survived just fine. I understand that we live in different times now and of course my kids have many things they don’t “need” but this is getting RIDICULOUS!!
It’s like those “Bridezilla” shows and shows about extravagant weddings – I can’t get on board with that either. Yes, it’s all pretty and what not but all you really need to get married is two people and some signed papers.
Oh and don’t EVEN get me started on these “REAL housewives” shows…
We are just out of control with our need for stuff and frivolous things and one of these days it’s gonna bite us in the ass. HARD.
*steps off soap box* 😉
Now I have to see her.
I’ve never seen the show, but agree with your take on things – infants need very little. This is just another way to get ridiculousness on t.v. Wish I had thought of it first 😉
I like you and I like this post. Mostly I like you.
If I wasn’t OCD, Type-A, control freak mental, I wouldn’t have spent 1000$ on eBay/ Amazon/ babies R us/ Zutano the day I found out it was a girl…
Nope. I would’ve let my hubby or MIL pick out her…(snort) clothes, nursery, etc.
Yeah, THAT wasn’t gonna happen
I live in NYC too so I know that these women exist. Although they are not the norm. I didn’t go a day in my life without wearing heels— until I got pregnant. I also have a nanny. As do almost all of my working friends who are not even close to what you would call “high class”. I wouldn’t equate having a nanny with the level of ridiculousness that goes on in this show. Nannies and full-time daycare do not have that big of a price differential in Manhattan.
My point is just that Rosie Pope is even more out of her mind than the clients that she makes fun of. And her scare tactics and advice do a disservice to all pregnant women watching the show, regardless of their income level.
I was super controlling about what went into the nursery. I just did it all online and didn’t purchase anything until after the baby was born.
Here’s a link to what it looks like:
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2010/09/in-mazzys-room.html
As for the baby essentials— I had a list of necessities (given to me by a friend) that I gave my mom so she knew exactly what to get. Then we waited to see what people bought off the registry before we purchased anything ourselves.
I was planning on buying clothes once the baby was born but we got so much stuff as gifts that we didn’t need to.
That is EXACTLY what she is doing, isn’t it? Scaring them into needing her services. And promoting the crazy baby industry as a whole in the process.
I have a post already written specifically for you, my friend. Will post soon.
Ha. That sounds hilarious. Where the hell did she get her “Perfect Parent” certificate? Did she steal it from Gwyneth Paltrow?
Love it. From the number of times I’ve stuck a pacifier straight from the floor into Mazzy’s mouth, I’d say I am following your advice.
Rosie in Target? LC would have a coronary.
THIS IS AWESOME!!!!
(can’t even add to its perfection with a witty comment. you hit it all, girl.)
Making fun of the ridiculous requests (which I am sure are brainstormed and orchestrated by the show’s producers) would make for much better fodder than trying to make the women feel woefully unprepared. While I was pregnant, I was under the impression that I should enjoy my sleep and freedom while I still could and worry about everything else once the baby arrived.
I read a book and took a three-day class. But I was more worried that the baby would arrive healthy than anything else.
I caught half an episode the other week, and spent my time alternating between giggling nervously, and picking my jaw up off the ground.
For a start, I’ve never understood the need to get so much crap for a baby, let alone before it’s even born. I started off with nothing but absolute basics and was more than fine. Hell, we didn’t even bother with a nursery. And I love your newsflash about childproofing – it’s been our approach, too.
As for Rosie Pope, is it too un-PC to ask about the way she speaks? And her accent? I dunno, it had me just as baffled as the show’s content… she seems sweet enough, though.
The episode with the lower income musician couple was the best by far. That guy was the only person that ever called Rosie out for her insanity. She was trying to get him to take down a guitar because it had the word FUCK on it and he said something like— if that baby comes out able to read than we are going to be millionaires.
Priceless.
Now I need to know your kid’s name. The baby naming focus group was really the high point of that show. Didn’t they end up going with what they had wanted beforehand anyway? And the woman had Romona-eyes.
My mother watched Real Housewives of New york with me for the first time the other day and she was in complete disbelief that people find this crap interesting. People meaning “me” of course.
I agree with you. The wedding industry has been out of control for a while now and the baby industry seems to have followed suit. The first time I walked into a Buy Buy Baby— I was TERRIFIED.
I didn’t write about the show for so long because I didn’t know if her voice was an accent or a speech impediment and it seemed rude to call it out. But honestly, after the first five seconds into the first episode, my husband and I turned to each other and were like— how the hell do you give someone with a voice like that their own TV show?
So true! How ridiculous. The only thing you need to worry about before having a baby is if you’ve shaved your legs! After all you don’t want the doctor and nurses to think you’re another pregnant “man”!
No need to baby proof until the baby is actually moving!
I do have to say that I love the show, though. Totally guilty pleasure. But, I don’t know how I’d feel about it if I wasn’t already past the pregnancy stage!
I don’t watch it, but it sounds like just another sensationlistic build-them-up-so-you-can-tear-them-down reality show. Actually, it sounds like the the baby equivalent of Millionair Matchmaker. I wonder of Rosie and Patti Stanger are friends.
While, I did prepare the nursery before Lil’ Bit was born, we didn’t start babyproofing until last fall, AFTER she was mobile.
And somewhere Rosie Pope’s head explodes.
We adopted our daughter and had a 12 hour window of opportunity to prepare for her arrival. We were chosen after she was born. Our mothers went to Babies R Us (you know….before we realized it was pure evil) and got us the necessities while we went to pick her up. The only item we pre-bought was a carseat. It’s 100% possible to have a newborn without all kinds of shit already in your house. Even those, “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant,” chicks deal somehow.
I am totally addicted to this show! As I near the end of my pregnancy it is my guilty pleasure that makes me laugh, cry, and scream within moments of each other.
I’ve never seen the show but agree with YOU. I think if I watched the show I’d yell at the TV and I do enough of that already.
I watched Rosie a couple of times. I cannot relate. I can barely relate to my real-life best friend who just had her first baby, because she and her husband are very much like those expectant parents in the show except much further down the income bracket. My kids are grown. Yah, when I had my first one I thought baby towels and a bassinet and a wipes warmer were necessities. I don’t bother to tell my friend this because we all have to learn it for ourselves, don’t we?
Perhaps she should partner with an anti-depressant drug company, putting all that pressure on pregnant moms is one sure way to guarantee feelings of inadequacy which could potentially attribute to postpartum depression. I think we all have enough worries/doubts/stresses to deal with pre and post delivery without some loon adding to them.
(too much?)
Sometimes I lament not having cable. This is not one of those times.
We EYE-talians have similar feelings about baby showers, though I think because we enjoy any excuse to get together and eat, we mostly ignore the potential for bad luck. But truly, what you need for a newborn are boobs (if this works out for you) and a pack of diapers.
Hells to the yes. I think. I trust you on your review. I mean, I’d watch the show myself but I’m above that kind of entertainment.
(You should be glad for this comment. After all, I stopped reading thesuperficial.com for five whole minutes. Do you know how much I just missed about Jessica Simpson’s suspect engagement and Vanessa Minillo’s recent bridal shower? DO YOU?)
Ha! My mom told me that was the first thing she did when she started having contractions. I thought she was crazy. Then I did the same thing.
I cannot watch that Millionaire Matchmaker show. The men and women they have on there are just PAINFUL to watch. I mean— imagine how socially inept you would have to be to have a millions of dollars but still not be able to find a date? It’s actually nice to know that most people wouldn’t go for a total idiot just for the money.
WAIT. I think I missed the memo announcing that Babies R US was “pure evil”. Is there something I should know?
I can’t even imagine having no child one day and a child the next without a nine month window of total freak-outs.
A wise person told me not to ever warm the wipes. If they never get used to them warm, the cold ones don’t bother them. Ditto for the milk once they stop breastfeeding.
And if I could do it over again, I would never have bought my bassinet. I could have gotten something way cheaper for the small amount of time that it was used.
Just check out thesuperficial.com for the first time and I think I ma have lost several days of my life. What time is it? Is it fall yet?
OH EM GEE, YES.
Everything about that show makes me itchy. That includes her voice.
a-FUCKING-men! shit. and allllll that shit you buy, or get at a shower, well half you never use!
I was 1/2 way thru your post… thinking “Why do they have to child proof before the baby is born? it isn’t going to crawl for 7+ months?” I am soooo glad you said it. Ridiculous. We didn’t have a nursery or move either baby into their own room until about 6months. Any the amount of stuff people “need”? even more crazy.
I think I saw this show on hulu – won’t be watching it after your un-recommendation. 🙂
Here’s the thing though. There are many (far too many) people in this world who think that children and babies are accessories and that motherhood is one more thing to check off the to-do list. I mean, that first episode with the woman who was so completely unenthused by her pregnancy and hated all things baby-related? These people need reality checks.
The baby-name focus group people? They were just so over-the-top ridiculous that any parent would be hard-pressed NOT to be entertained by that level of self-importance.
I don’t think that Rosie’s business is so much about making scared parents realize how unprepared they are as it is about getting people to face, accept, and start to understand how their life is going to be changed by this decision they’ve made. Of course, I’ve only seen a couple of episodes, but I’ve gotten the impression that it’s not so much about buying stuff and putting together a nursery and childproofing as it is about beginning to see things from a parent’s perspective and setting side a designated space for the baby.
And as for the show? I think it’s just more Bravo TV exposing the world’s crazies one episode at a time.
I just found your blog through Gina Osher at The Twin Coach! I spent a plane ride from LA To Boston watching this show. Rosie Pope is pretty and charming, but the other pregnant on the show look foolish. Especially the one who wanted to choose teh “right” name for her son so he could be the future president. Ugh!
It’s amazing to me how little newborns need.Maybe their parents need the stuff to feel like they are doing right by their latest creation- but given long ago, that women (according to a favorite go to source like….Gunsmoke) had babies all the time in really basic circumstances- it seemed to me that a few soft blankets, a couple of changes of clothes and diapers would fit the bill. A newborn, if it’s been fed and changed doesn’t actually need their mother either, come to think of it.
Every time I see a pregnant woman in my office wearing heels, I roll my eyes. I LOVE that being pregnant gives me the best excuse ever to buy new COMFORTABLE flats and wear them with my work attire!