Days before the birth of her new baby girl, Paloma (born June 28), Babble sat down with Ugly Betty star Ana Ortiz at her celebrity baby shower. As Betty’s older sister and hot single mom, Hilda, Ortiz is already immersed in clan conflict on a weekly basis. Ortiz will be heading back to work mere weeks after giving birth, so we asked her to fill us in on her game plan for successful working parenthood in New York City. Hint: it involves a lot of help from family, both real and small-screen. — April Peveteaux
Congratulations! How did you manage on the set of Ugly Betty when you were really, really pregnant?
We have a genius costume designer and our directors had to get really creative with what I was doing in a scene: holding a popcorn bowl or folding laundry . . . which my character never does! I went from being the "cha-cha" sexy girl to the Puerto Rican Mrs. Roper. I was in muumuus all of a sudden.
It wasn’t easy, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I think that, for me, working during pregnancy was the best possible thing I could have done. Just to have something else to focus on. The hardest part of it was just being tired. We work really long hours and when you’re pregnant, you just want to be able to put your feet up.
You're back on the job July 8th; how will you deal with being a working mom?
I think that they’re going to try to give the family time together. Maybe shoot the magazine stuff first so that I have a little bit of extra padding before going back. Then, my mom is going to be with me on the set.