Baby Laughs: The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood, by Jenny McCarthy -- A Book Review

As an expectant mother, you probably have (or recently had) this fantasy about the “joys of motherhood.” You've spent time nesting, creating the perfect space for your new baby and then some. You probably bought a new crib, new toys, and decorated the baby’s room to welcome your new child into his or her new home. You imagined how wonderful and sweet your new baby will be. You imagined dressing and bathing him, and putting him to sleep at night. Everything is about to be perfect, right? WRONG.

Once you get your sweet little bundle of joy home, reality really hits. You never sleep, you’re up to your ears in dirty diapers, and your baby won’t stop crying. If you decide to breastfeed, you won’t even have the option of having a cup of coffee when you wake up. How will you get it all done? With a new baby, the work never seems to stop, and you have 18 long years of hard work ahead of you.

The good news is, you're not alone. In the first year, you start to learn what every other mother in the world has learned -- and the vast majority learned it the hard way. Babies are work. A lot of work. Plus your body hurts like heck and everything feels totally overwhelming while you're trying to heal AND turn your entire life on its head. When it seems like the work is easing up a little and baby gets more manageable, baby learns mobility and then hits 2 or 3 years old. It never stops. However, all that doesn't mean that it can't be fun, or that you can't laugh at these daily hurdles.

The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood is the sequel to Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth by Jenny McCarthy, former MTV host and Playboy bunny. In this book, McCarthy relates her experiences as a new mom. These anecdotes range from labor to breast milk. McCarthy has so many humorous and poignant stories to tell. With lines like "My epidural was working so well you could have valet parked some cars up there, and I still wouldn't have felt anything" and "My breasts looked like giant bowling balls. No, giant watermelons. No, Pamela Anderson's seventh boob job..." you won’t be bored by this book. Obviously, if you're easily offended or don't appreciate some crass humor -- move along, because you'll hate this book.

To tell all truth, Jenny McCarthy isn't really my style, and there's a good chance I never would have gotten near her book if it hadn't been handed to me. I've never read the prequel, but got Baby Laughs as a present about a month before my first child's birth. At the time, I was third-trimester pregnant and still throwing freight full time. As much as I love to read, I really didn’t have the time or energy to read a book just then. Three months into motherhood, however, it became a welcome reprieve from one of the hardest transitions in my life.

The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood is a very fast read. I started it on a relatively undemanding day, so I managed to finish it in about three hours. I actually expected this book to be funnier than it turned out to be, but there were still plenty of parts which made me laugh so hard I choked. I'll reiterate, though, that if you are not a fan of crude humor then you will not enjoy this book. If you are easily offended this is not the book for you. Bear in mind, this lady's claim to fame is Playboy and Saturday Night Live, as well as the occasional slapstick appearance.

Overall, I found the book to be an amusing read. It definitely shouldn’t have been any longer, otherwise it would have dragged on and just gotten obnoxious. No, you're really not going to learn anything from it. It's purely what I like to call "brain candy" -- you can unplug from daily life for a bit, have a few shameless laughs with someone who can relate to the not-so-fun parts of early motherhood, then pass it along to the next mommy who needs to smile a bit.

So, let's recap. Baby Laughs is an example of purely recreational reading, and has light enough content and moves fast enough to even potentially appeal to people who don't normally read. This book would also make an appropriate baby shower gift. Whether you just want a few laughs or to take a break from all your hard mommy work, The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood might just help you feel a little more positive about your new role and new lifelong identity as a mother.