Welcome to the fourth edition of Baby Steps, a column about the gestation and eventual birth of a human child!
When it comes to baby showers, Gretchen was pretty certain about what she wanted: not to have one. Baby showers as a concept encompass so much of what my wife attempts to avoid at all costs, such as “being the center of attention” and “allowing others to spend money on her.” So when we announced the pregnancy to our friends several months back and our passionate planner and spreadsheet legend Rachel immediately volunteered to organize the shower, I imagine Gretchen hoped this event would never truly come to fruition, that it was a soft plan, the kind of plan you can set and forget, the kind of plan she could somehow weasel her way...
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Riese is the 43-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.
Riese has written 3286 articles for us.
