Paris, Baby!

Is it possible to maintain chic as a single-mom-to-be in a city where it's all supposed to be effortless and breastfeeding is a "horreur"? Does one live by the Parisienne's pregnancy plan of smoking, drinking, and cheese-eating "avec vin blanc," but "jamais jamais" gain more than six kilos? And how to handle a pickup attempt by a married man in the baby department of Bon Marche when you're eight months along? After all, American girls do things differently: Lamaze class and baby showers, sensible prenatal care and family to watch you proudly grow more and more pregnant.

Paris is full of delights for a new mom: the Luxembourg Gardens, baby boutiques too precious to be passed by, a "petit brioche" for a teething tot. But home exerts a powerful pull. Should your child grow up skipping by the Seine or scampering up a tree house? Should it be "Mommy" or ""Maman""? And can a tall blonde with a taste for Veuve Cliquot and Vuitton ever make it in the land of mom jeans and Happy Meals?

"Paris, Baby " is novelist Kirsten Lobe's warm, funny memoir about Paris, Frenchmen, friendship, babies, and making it on one's own."