Strollerderby : sarah jessica parker

A Surrogate Birth Every 48 Hours

Madeline Holler — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:10:00 GMT

In the U.S., the reported amount of money gestational carriers (aka: surrogate mothers) receive for nine months of developing some other couple's genetic material into a full-blown baby isn't exactly life-changing. It's never enough to buy a house, pay for a college degree, or even elevate one's standard of living.

But in India, surrogate mothers make enough to actually change their lives, according to one doctor who attends many, many surrogate births. A payment of $13,000 and often more is an incredible amount.

So while we considered what affect Sarah Jessica Parker would have on the rate and popularity of surrogate pregnancies in the U.S., Dr. Anita Soni, obstetrician in India at one of Mumbai's top hospitals, was attending a gestational carrier's birth every 48 hours.

Demand from childless Westerners, especially in the U.K. where commercial surrogacy is illegal, has created a surrogacy baby boom in India.

Soni said she attends the births of around 15 surrogates every month. She has no problem with arrangement, which she describes as life-changing for both sides.

From the London Evening Standard:

“For these surrogate mothers that amount of money is life-changing. It helps them set up a home, get their daughters married or something like that. There is absolutely no exploitation of these women. It is really big money. It is a jackpot.

“They go through a little bit of emotional trauma, but then they go back home and they realise they have done it for a good cause. I help more white couples than Indians, who are still sceptical about things. English couples come here much more in numbers.”

I don't know, a dowry seems like a waste of this money and of course the doctor sees surrogacy as a boon: she's benefitting from an increase in the births, too. Soni works at one of the few hospitals where surrogate mothers are sent to give birth. Also, I wonder about abuse. I wonder if we'll start hearing about daughters being sent to get pregnant to bring in extra money for the family (in India or other countries).

Another doctor who's getting a piece of the pie says business won't dry up anytime soon.

Dr Gauri Gupta of the Rotunda Clinic, who implants embryos in Indian surrogates before they go into the care of Dr Soni, said: “Surrogacy is spreading at a very fast pace here and there have been very few complaints. It is a very helpful way for people who could not have children before to become parents and we are seeing more and more couples from the UK every day. Our email inquiry box is full of messages from people from all over the West.”

What do you think? Win-win situation in India and Great Britain? Or is the American low-pay, high-benevolence factor the better model? Surrogate pregnancies aren't likely to stop anytime soon -- especially since it's been globalized.

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Photo: London Evening Standard

Surrogate Pregnancy: Who's Next?

Madeline Holler — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:34:00 GMT

Surrogate pregnancies, you have arrived.

This week, the world learned that Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are awaiting the birth of twin girls via a surrogate sometime this summer. And while there's got to be criticism brewing out there somewhere, so far the mood has been celebratory. There's much congratulations to the couple, who had apparently struggled to conceive after the birth of their son James six years ago. And also reassurance that they have paid an Ohio divorcee "tens of thousands of dollars" to go through the none-too-easy process of getting pregnant and carrying twin pregnancies using someone else's fertilzed eggs (as we're all assuming is the case).

Does anybody else get the feeling that SJP will do for surrogate pregnancies what she did for HBO, expensive strappy shoes and vodka-based girly drinks -- which is to say, make it popular? Will the Sex and the City star be surrogacy's Angelina Jolie, a celebrity endorsement?

A couple of things came to mind when I heard the big Parker/Broderick news: Alex Kuczynski and also the recent Babble piece on surrogate moms.

Kuczynski is the New York Times writer who hired a surrogate to carry and birth Kuczynski's biological son. Her first-person piece about the experience created a stir, much of it having to do with class differences and the fact that pictures accompanying the article showed (1) Kuczynski holding her baby in front of her Southampton, N.Y., home while a black baby nurse stands quietly in the backround and (2) the surrogate mom barefoot and pregnant on a porch in need of a better paint job. Kuczynski was candid about her reasons for wanting a surrogate and also why she wanted to raise a child she was genetically related to. She was frank about her ambivalent feelings toward her surrogate. Surely Parker would express herself differently, but I have to wonder whether her feelings and reasons are all that different from Kuczynski, who was pretty much villified.

But the surrogate mother. The surrogate! Jennifer Block writes about what several surrogate moms have gone through -- not just the injections and having more embryos transferred than actually agreed upon -- but the sheer invasiveness of the pregnancy and birth itself. Mostly, I wondered whether, included in the "tense of thousands of dollars" for the pregnancy and birth of the Parker-Broderick twins, is an island vacation.

If surrogacy becomes the new black -- the Appletini of family planning -- who's next? Madonna?

The Other Side of Surrogacy

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NYT Asks: Are There Too Many Ways to Conceive?

Sing It, Baby (Babies?): Octomom The Musical

Egg Donation: Which Comes First?

Photo: Star magazine

Best of FameCrawler: Week of August 1st

Whit Honea — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Christina Aguilera On A Bed Of Roses

More Beautiful Jolie-Pitt Family Photos!

Tom Cruise Named In Scientology Lawsuit

Federline is SHOCKED at Britney!

Miley Cyrus: Saying Goodbye To Hannah Montana?

What Actor Was Not Nice in Nice?

Formal McCarthyism

Who's Pregnant But Not Admitting It?

Britney's Bikini Photos Leaked!

Sarah Jessica and Matthew Broderick: EX In The City?

Top Five Celebrity Pregnancy Denials

Kate Hudson and Eric Lindros, Already

Which Celebs Refuse To Pimp Out Their Kids?

Amy S.F. Lutz — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:29:00 GMT

Since Brangelina's twins arrived, there's been a lot of passionate debate about the ethics of celebrities auctioning off baby pics to the highest bidder.

Me, I thought that, since Brad and Angelina have promised to donate the $11 million they've allegedly scored from People Magazine to charity, everyone wins. Until I read a very rational article on this practice, which pointed out that celebs like the Jolie-Pitts have so much money they could easily afford to donate $11 mil to charity WITHOUT sacrificing their children's privacy. As Bruce Weinstein, who writes on ethics for a syndicated column, points out, "If your own parents are literally selling you out, where can one feel safe?"

Not all celebrities are raking in the big bucks for their baby pictures, however. Which ones are taking the moral highground?

According to Gawker, a few big names were never approached to sell their babes' photos because they made it clear beforehand they weren't interested. In this group are actresses Nicole Kidman (who recently welcomed, with husband Keith Urban, daughter Sunday Rose), Halle Berry (who celebrated the arrival of Nahla Ariela with Gabriel Aubry) and Cate Blanchett (who, with husband Andrew Upton, brought home third son Ignatius Martin in April).

Then there are those celebs who turned down big time offers for pictures of their offspring, such as Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck (parents of Violet Anne, now 2), Courtney Cox and David Arquette (parents of Coco Riley, now 4), Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick (parents of James Wilkie, now 5) and Salma Hayek (who last year delivered Valentina Paloma, fathered by Hayek's fiance, Francois-Henri Pinault). Several of these tots have been snapped while out and about with their parents, or had their pictures distributed for free, but in any case, these folks obviously didn't want their children to become the focus of increasingly aggressive stalking by the paparazzi.

One could argue that no matter how Brad and Angelina resolved the photo distribution question, their no-doubt gorgeous twins would still become the focus of increasingly aggressive stalking by the paparazzi. And one would probably be right - after all, we're talking about Brangelina here! But at least if they had held their ground, their kids would have known, when they were old enough to appreciate it, that their parents never looked at them with dollar signs in their eyes.

20 Mil For Pics Of Twins

Here's to the laddies who lunch

Brett Singer — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:00:00 GMT

An article in the New York Times Style section discussed a group of men who got together for breakfast after dropping their kids off at school. The men are Manhattan-based primary caregivers, and one of them describes their jaunts as "like 'Sex and the City' with coffee instead of cosmos."

Here are a couple of other possible descriptions:

"Like 'Sex and the City' with more body hair."

"Like 'Sex and the City' only we don't talk about penises."

Wait – actually, they do! The article details the dads discussing the pending bris of one of their sons; a debate about the merits of circumcision follows, with one dad defending the practice by saying, "You don’t think that with our technology you won’t be able to get a better foreskin?"

Then there was this line: "We do more parenting than our type-A wives and feel we’re justified." That killed me, or more accurately, would get me killed by my wife if I said it in the Times. The speaker was referring to the fact that they go out for breakfast with other dads on a regular basis. Another gem: "This wouldn’t exist with us if there wasn’t this need that in a sense is repressed…People are conditioned to feel that it’s sophomoric: now that you’re a grown-up, you’re supposed to spend time with your family, not your friends." Um, or you're too busy to putz around. (The article does point out that the men have nannies and housekeepers, so they have more time for dining out than other sad SAHDs might.)

How do the wives feel about it? One of them says, "It’s very nice — it feeds Josh’s soul…If it makes him less productive, that makes me resentful, and it has the potential to veer in that direction."

What I want to know is this: why does everything have to be a "thing"? It's not that I begrudge anyone their desire to hang out with like-minded folks. I would blame the 'Sex and the City' comparison on the author of the article, but it's a quote from one of the men.

And guys? You're not "entitled" to brunch. It's not a constitutional right. Sure, if you have time, hang out with your friends. Whatever. But "We do more parenting than our type-A wives and feel we’re justified"? How about "they go to work and you stay home so they're justified"? It's always funny to me that the non-traditional man stays at home with the kids scenario often devolves into the man not cooking or cleaning, and having time to linger over brunch. When women used to do this, it was derisively referred to as a kaffeeklatsch. But the men "feel justified."

As for me, I'm often the only father picking up at school, and that's fine. Sometimes there are things that "the moms" do, and I will publicly state that it's OK, I don't want to go. Not because I don't enjoy their company, but men and women sometimes do different things. Besides, maybe they want to chat without some bald guy around. I didn't even watch 'Sex and the City', why would I want to behave like the characters?

The only all-dad activity I can recall was a late-hours basketball game, which I skipped because one of the fathers involved looked at me, deadly serious, and said, "We don't get that competitive. Nobody's gotten hurt in a couple of years." Take my word for it, he wasn't kidding. I have friends with children of their own, and we talk about the kids. But it's just life. It's not a "thing," as one of the men in the article calls it (somewhat derisively, I should add.)

There has to be some middle ground between brunching and the shooting range. Or maybe there isn't. Me, I have work to do.

(Source)

image: Sex and the City poster that I goofed around with in Photoshop

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'Sex and the City': Top 5 Parenting and Relationship Moments

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:01:00 GMT

Sex and the City started way back in 1998 to examine the (fictional and more monied and sexed up) lives of single women in the big city. And millions watched and learned. Today gaggles of women fans, dressed in Manolo Blahnik knock-offs will be teetering to cinemas with their gal pals wearing huge faux flowers and talking about their lives before...

...kids, husbands, limited clothing budgets and comfortable shoes...

In celebration, here are 5 of SATC's top parenting and relationship moments:

1. Where Miranda realizes she's in love with Steve.. in the laundry room - This scene captures the essence of why the show was successful. Miranda has been on the fence about Steve for years. She has a baby with him and moves on.. only realizing she's in love with him long after they share custody of Brody.

2. When the single gals put new mama Miranda in a taxi cab - because she forgot her stroller - Another wonderful SATC real life moment. Samantha loves Miranda but can't abide kids. So when on a lark the ladies decide to shop, and Miranda realizes she can't cart her babycarrier around with her, she's banished back to mommy land. Miranda's sad backward glance at her receding friends is a testament to the transition many women have to make into motherhood.

3. Miranda's huge nipples and Carrie's horror - Carrie visits new mom Miranda, who is so consumed with worry about her non-eating infant, she can barely track their conversation. She whips out the new bigger boobs to feed the baby and Carrie gets her first up close and personal look at nursing nipples.

4. Miranda has sex on the couch with a boyfriend while Brady cries - Many of us can relate (maybe not to the boyfriend but the Mommy needs sex but baby is crying scenario) to Miranda as she tries to get it on while Brady wails for her in the background. Her dialog is perfect ("It's ok, baby, Mommy is coming!")

5. Carrie cries every time Big tells her he's having heart surgery - I love the relationship between Carrie and Big. It's imperfect, crazy, and takes 6 years to work out. They love each other, but the timing is never ever right (until the end, of course). In the 5th season, Big visits New York City from Napa and shares a lovely dinner with Carrie. During dinner he shares with her that he's having a "little procedure" which turns out to be angioplasty. Carrie is wracked with uncontrollable sobbing. She doesn't understand what is happening, but we do. She's in love with Big and he still has access to her heart even after all they've been through.

And while much of this may read like a Harlequin Romance Novel does Parenting and Relationships, you'll have to watch it and give it a chance because just when you think you have one of the characters typed, they surprise you.

"Sex and the City" the movie. The next best thing to living in New York City and wearing Manolo's.

For more SATC moments, go here....

Best of FameCrawler: Week of May 9th

Whit Honea — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Hello, Harlow!

Sheyla Hershey's Got Big (Size FFF) Dreams

Nicole Kidman: DUMPED

Elisabeth Hasselbeck's Post Baby Bikini Bod!

Secrets of How Celebrity Moms Lost Their Baby Weight

Britney Finally Gets Her Boys

Oh My God That Britney's Shameless: Oops, She Did It AGAIN?

Pregnant Posh! Beckham Baby on the Way!

Sarah Jessica Parker's Pregnancy News!

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Best of Famecrawler: To Hell with Sexy Lists!

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:16:00 GMT

Posted by HerBadMother

I have an idea for a new list. It will be an antidote to all of the superficial and misogynistic lists that currently get all of the press, and it will make everyone feel better. Cookie Magazine or whomever could publish it, and we could all debate who should be on it: Loveliest Celebrity Moms Ever.

Christy Turlington, who is featured in this month's Cookie, would certainly have to be on it, because a) she is jaw-droppingly gorgeous in the most unaffected and unenhanced way, and b) she radiates good-heartedness and save-the-worldishness and makes me want to do yoga, maybe, if I could ever get off my ass. Also, she invented the world's best yoga-wear, which - quite apart from good for yoga, which I wouldn't know - is the very best garb for post-partum bodies and bodies that can't be bothered to iron stuff when they're exhausted from caring for babies.

I would also put Jennifer Garner on that list, because every picture ever taken of her and her daughter is the very image of motherly love and childish joy and also have you seen her dimples? (That I have a massive girl-crush on her and want her to join my Mommy-and-Me group has not biased me in any way on this issue.) Who else? Angelina, maybe, for adopting all of those children and very possibly saving their lives - recent controversies over the terms of those adoptions don't change the fact that she is making a home for children who would otherwise likely not have any - though she looks like she would cut you if you ever dared criticize her, which isn't a lovely characteristic, but I'll reserve judgment on that. Maggie Gyllenhaal, for breastfeeding publicly, and for being unremittingly cool. Jamie Lee Curtis, for remaining insistently consistent in promoting healthy body image for girls. Julia Roberts and Jodie Foster, for putting family life before their own celebrity. Salma Hayek, for being breathtaking (superficial, I know, but still.) Sarah Jessica Parker, because she proves that sexiness isn't the be-all and end-all of loveliness, in motherhood or in womanhood generally. I could on and on.

I would prefer that it not be a ranked list, because true loveliness defies ranking, but I'd understand if some sales-minded editor insisted upon such ranking. It would have to be a celebrity-specific list, otherwise it would be nearly infinite (the stock of motherly loveliness in the world being itself almost infinite), and - however sadly - not particularly newsworthy. Obviously, there'd be some notable exclusions - Britney, of course, and likely Posh (just not lovely, in my books. She snarls), among a great many others - which is not to say that those women are excluded from the possibility of loveliness as mothers, just that, at present time, they seem to have other, less-lovely concerns. There would, however, not be an 'Unlovely Moms' list, because unecessary meanness is just not lovely.

I'm not quite certain of how I'm defining 'lovely' here; I just think that I know it when I see it (and in any case, who knows how to define 'sexy' or 'hot', either? Or 'unsexy' for that matter?) And that it's a more precious commodity that 'sexiness' or 'hotness' or whatever. And that we should celebrate it. For a change.

Also:

Xtina wears Christmas green
Nicole Ritchie is still pregnant (and still eating)
Halle Berry has terrible taste in men

The Fashionable Way to Never Touch Nasty Kids Again

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:35:00 GMT

Hey, parents! Welcome to one of the best baby gear moments of the millennium -- the introduction of the Fingertip Glove! And do you know what the best part is? They're in style! In fact, they are so hot that Sarah Jessica Parker's wearing them while Carrie Bradshawing all over NYC streets on the Sex and the City movie set. Wait!, you say? How can I, the ordinary but rather stylish mommy (or daddy with smallish hands) incorporate this fall fashion item from the runways into my daily routine? Easy.

First, think of these fingertip glove wonders as your ticket out of ever touching your newborn's bodily fluids again. In fact, think of them as your polite way of opting out of touching your kid's body ever again. Consider how sassy you'll look when your cleaning the circumcision wound or the umbilical cord oogy thingy (which totally reminds me of the grossest/greatest Sex and the City mommy scene when Miranda's baby's umbilical cord stump falls off and the cat thinks it's a new toy....*shudder* but see how it all comes back around?). And if you have one of those babies who practically makes latex gloves a requirement for diaper changes or toilet training, forget the hospital look and go with the leather. It's so much more Milan than the clinical look you've been sporting. No more fingernails full of soy butter and snot scraped from your child's cheek. No more glue-stick stuck fingertips and no more slipping when you try to zip up those teeny tiny zippers on the 24-month size hoodies. No more actually touching the chains on playground swings or the grodied up buckle on the carseat. Think of all that freedom along with all that fashion!

For just $320 (really, they are $32 a pop, but if you're using them for kid duty, you might as well stock up), you can look like Paris Hilton while you parent. And since she wants to be a parent and has been a model, it will almost be like you're a parent who wants to be a model when you wear them. Now that's a playgroup wower.

Best of Famecrawler: WWJD?

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:10:00 GMT

By Whit

Katie "Jordan" Price popped up in a giant box of Kleenex today. A new fragrance wafted gingerly behind her. Who are we kidding? I'm guessing the place smelled like a French whorehouse, not that I know what that smells like, it's just an expression.

The perfume, called "Stunning" is now available in London, but will soon come to a K-Mart near you. I hope the gift-pack includes one of her nappy weaves. Halloween is right around the corner. It's like Bratz in a bottle.

In parting, let me leave you with the stunning words of Katie, as featured on Perez Hilton:

“I’m thinking of having my vagina tightened. After having three kids, I’d really notice the difference. By the time I’m finished I’ll be like a nun.”

-Jordan

Other Famecrawler goodness today:

[Photo Credit: dlisted]