It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita

by Heather B. Armstrong

Book Overview

An irreverent and captivating memoir about the unexpected joys and glaring indignities of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood--from the beloved creator of the popular mommy blog, Dooce.com.

Heather Armstrong gave up a lot of things when she and her husband decided to have a baby: beer, small boobs, free time--and antidepressants. The eighteen months that followed were filled with anxiety, constipation, nacho cheese Doritos, and an...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1439171505
• ISBN13: 9781439171509
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Pleased

I found this book to be very interesting, honest and on track with the experiences of new mothers. I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading this book. Many of the subjects Heather talks about are the things expecting mother's need to hear, but no one tells them. I wish I had this book to read after my son was born. I will buy this book for friend's who are expecting!

A fine pick for any general lending library

The author gave up many things when she decided to have a baby - including antidepressants. The months following childbirth weren't ideal however as her husband returned to work and she faced lonely days, sleepless nights, and troubles adjusting to motherhood. Presented with a healthy dose of humor, It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, A Breakdown, and a Much-Needed Margarita is a fine pick for any general lending library.

The baby blog to end all baby blogs comes to a bookshelf near you

"It Sucked And Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita" by Heather B. Armstrong (Simon & Schuster, 2009) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Heather Armstrong, the author of the dooce website, is one of the most famous bloggers in the world. She is famous in part for being the poster child for what can happen when real life crosses into the blogosphere -- Armstrong was fired from her job because her bosses decided her "personal" blog was inappropriately commenting on workplace activities (She was lampooning coworkers and workplace situations that they felt were too easily recognized, and reprimanded her, even though the blog itself was produced on her own time and not on the company clock... As a result, Armstrong has been interviewed many times about how having a blog can have unforeseen fallout in your daily life... etc., etc.) Mostly, though she is known for writing a baby blog -- the mother of all baby blogs -- and for being very, very funny. Armstrong began chronicling her pregancy, birth, motherhood (and subsequent post-partum depression) on dooce, and she was about a year ahead of our family in the whole parenting thing: my wife is a big fan. The birthing-to-toddler years, which form the core of this book, were dooce at its peak -- Armstrong was unflinchingly, unfailingly outspoken, outrageous, hilarious and insightful. Her use of all caps to show GREAT EMOTION AND AGITATION is unmatched by anyone else online. Somewhere along the line, though, dooce began to lose its mojo -- we grew alienated when the blog shifted from the kids-poop-the-darnest-things level into more egocentric discussions about things like the new house they had bought, their expensive new camera, and Armstrong's budding celebrity in the blogging world, about conferences she was attending and interviews she was giving. Somewhere along the way, Armstrong had ceased to be One Of Us and had suddenly become One Of Them, a famous person, a celeb, and she displayed a lot of the self-involvement that comes with the territory (as well as with the whole blogging phenomenon). My wife still reads dooce, but it is seldom as bright and witty an event as it once was. The transition from a daily blog into a full-fledged book raises interesting issues. In the main, Armstrong is mining her old posts for material, which is fine since that old bloggage is great stuff, and a lot of her funniest, most insightful work is included here. Gone, though, is the day-to-day intimacy of the real-time diary -- nothing new is going to appear on your screen the next morning and the constraints of this old-media presentation means that Armstrong has to produce something with a beginning, a middle and an end. The through-line she chooses is how becoming a parent, and having an infant (and then a toddler) on her hands eventually became so stressful that she turned to antidepressant medication for help, and even had herself briefly committ

Love it.

I also saw an early copy of this book, and I think it is funny, relatable, and extremely well-written. I love Heather's style and her willingness to share some deeply personal feelings so that others may know that they aren't alone. A previous reviewer mentions how she is a parent and can't stand how Heather talks about her love for Leta as well as her resentment. I can fully, FULLY, appreciate this duplicity. Knowing that someone else had those feelings too was an incredible comfort in the early days after my daughter was born. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. Well done, Blurbodoocery!

It was Great, and then I Laughed

This book may be hazardous to my health. My wife just told me that if I interrupt her one more time with a, "listen to this!" quote from Heather's book that she's going to beat me to a pulp with it. It didn't surprise her at all when I started reading passages to the cat. This book is a riotous carnival of images. Heather doesn't just take you on the roller coaster, she takes you through the whole park: Tunnel of Love, Funhouse, side show, hot dogs with sauerkraut. On maternity clothes - "And I even surrendered and bought a pair of elastic-bellied denim trousers that did nothing but make me look like a cheap concubine in Humpty Dumpty's harem." On Chuck the dog - "Chuck was constantly smelling my breath and licking my face, searching for bits of the burrito I'd eaten last week." On pregnant women - "One: the only way I knew these women were pregnant was because they looked pregnant, and I was taking a huge risk in assuming that their giant bellies were filled with humans and not just a whole bunch of Oreos." On Jon and chicken wings - "And I gave him that extra wing. It was my little way of saying, hey, I notice you didn't leave. Thank you." What I really like about this book is that there is an interesting, amusing turn-of-phrase or off-the-wall comment on every page. Every. Page. That's probably why I risk death by pulping; there's so much to share. And it's more than just the humor. Heather tells a story filled with love, warmth, thoughtfulness, heartfelt sincerity and complete openness. Through Heather's eyes everyday events like losing a sock on the way back from the store, or feeding a baby sweet potatoes become sagas of epic proportions with always a lesson learned. Well, it was predictable. The cat just walked off, but I don't give up that easily. Hey, Kink, come back and listen to what Heather wrote about cheese nachos!