Did you have a ”maternity concierge” when you were expecting? Me neither, but apparently it is the hottest rage — if you can afford the price tag.
Last night, I enjoyed some rare television time, alone! I spent my glorious hour with remote in hand, watching a new Slice show, Pregnant in Heels — a docu-drama that follows a maternity concierge, Rosie Pope. This entrepreneur owns two high-fashion maternity clothing boutiques and runs MomPrep, a training academy for mothers-to-be. I had no clue there was such a thing as that, either. Half of me was thinking, “Total waste of money” and the other half was thinking, “DAMN why didn’t I think of that?”
Tuning in, I did not know what to expect. I guess I envisioned an hour of Pope scouring the streets of New York city for pickles and ice cream and other far-out cravings. This was soooo not the case. The two clients I saw had really serious family issues they wanted solved before their new bundle of joy arrived.
One family had a six-year-old diva, for lack of a better term, that ruled their roost. They hire Pope to reign in her reign as Queen of the house. These parents had absolutely no clue on how to discipline their daughter or keep her from coming into their bed every night. Pope seemed more like America’s Supper Nanny with this family. After a few days: an empty toy room and what seemed like a never-ending all-night battle to keep her in bed; score: Pope 1, Diva 0. Pope even managed to throw in a “Mother’s Little Helper” class to teach the daughter how fun and important it is to help mom with the new baby. I have to admit, I wanted to give the parents in this situation a serious tongue lashing for letting their daughter get this out of control in the first place.
Couple two: classic tiger “mom-2-be” vs free-spirit dad — and throw in a dog from hell, just to keep it interesting. Mom hired Pope to train her dog and her husband. Yes, you read that correctly. This woman was a whole lot of cray-cray! She barked more than the dog!! If I ever spoke to my husband like this woman did to hers, I am sure he would laugh in my face and then promptly leave me.
I honestly did not see a happy outcome for this couple. The deflated husband needed to take off his muzzle and put it on the dog or, better yet, his wife. Somehow, over the course of the show, Pope and her team managed to bring it all around: a dog that was (likely) no longer going to use the baby as a chew toy; an expecting mom who finally came to realize the benefits of the even pairing of discipline, drive and freedom to raise her child; and, the highlight for me, a husband who found his voice.
I started the hour of my television session with very low expectations and ended as a fan. My inner reality TV–junkie loved watching the drama unfold: the train wrecks and the happy endings.
This woman Rosie Pope has a crazy job; she is on call 24/7 and, get ready for the kicker, she is doing it all while pregnant with her third child. She is tough and no-nonsense, and doesn’t mess around with the business of babies. I like her!
Have you ever heard of a Maternity Concierge? Did you have one? If you could have had one, what would you have used her for?
Dee Brun is the award-winning author of Libations of Life: A Girl’s Guide to Life One Cocktail at a Time, a cocktail chef and stylist, TV personality, home entertaining guru, writer, humorist, wife, mother of 4, TV Junkie, shoe-aholic, and borderline George Clooney stalker. Read her column, Isn’t it Deelightful, every Friday on Slice.ca.
