Newsday
Issue Date: Newsday 11/09/03

WEB SITE: Mother of Invention
By Caryn Eve Murray

It was when she was expecting her second daughter - the one born July 15, 2002 - that pregnancy gave Stacy Quarty of Water Mill something of a push in a different direction.

The graphic artist and communications marketing professional was keeping a journal of her physiological changes, something she hadn't done with her firstborn, Karmen, now 5.

“With the first child I was just so busy with work, I didn't have time to think about it. But with the second, it sort of felt like fate,” she said.

She got that growing feeling deep down in her gut that, this time around, she had much more to share. And most of it was embarrassing or disgusting. Certain parts of the body cracking. Other parts of the body feeling the baby’s hiccups. Cravings. Urgent bathroom needs.

Thus came the birth of www.franklypregnant.com, her Web site, launched recently, which is up front about such things as an expectant mom’s belly entering its ninth month:

“Have you ever had such an absurdly disgusting or odd pregnancy question that you were too embarrassed to ask your doctor? Or even your friends?” Her site promises questions - and answers - in good-humored, tell-all tone accompanied by semi-smirking photos taken by a friend during her pregnancy.

So what’s wrong with a little jest about gestation? Nothing, said the 37-year-old, who’s putting together a companion book to the site featuring queries and the answers of a layperson-mother who professes no medical expertise, just one woman’s experience.

She and her husband, Jamey Friedman, have - what else? - great expectations about the response from Web site visitors but, as parents of Devon and Karmen, may well be rethinking their own family-planning plans themselves.

“We’d decided on having two, but I am so immersed in this whole pregnancy business now ... maybe [another baby] would help my book tour?”

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