Joe Gumm
Hello and welcome! At this point, you're probably thinking two things: 1. "Why in the world would someone working in sports, particularly with ESPN radio, write books about romance and pregnancy?" and 2. "He really doesn't look like the testorerone-deficient man-servant I thought he would look like."
First of all, I was goaded to write my first book and forced to write the other. While working at ESPN radio in Dallas, Texas, my wife became pregnant with our first daughter. She announced one night that she wanted to have a natural birth, a birth without medication. I agreed and made it my mission to learn everything about a man's role in a natural birth. I went out and found just one book that had anything remotely written about a man's role. It was 33-years-old, written by a doctor and had absolutely nothing to do with me. Plus, it put me to sleep. So, since I couldn't find one, I wrote one. It's called From Humor to Hormones: A Man's Guide to a Pregnant Wife and a New Life (Champion Press Ltd) and will be out in April. It's a comical guide for men who need a lesson in Birthing 101. It not only covers natural birth, but water birth, hospital birth, a birthing center birth, a taxi cab birth and even a Wal-Mart birth. It covers everything a man needs to know about the whole experience, from day one to delivery. It has expert advice and stories from other men, regarding their experiences. It was the first book I wrote, but wasn't the first one that came out.
Romancing Mommy: From birth and Beyond (Champion Press Ltd), was written months later. One night at dinner, during my wife's second pregnancy, she was stressing about paint color in the baby's room. I figured the stress would be funneled directly to the baby in the womb (and certainly didn't want that), so I said to her, "You know, this pregnancy is not all about you", meaning it was also about the baby. She didn't buy it and neither did her parents, who by the way, were present. She spared my life and months later, during the birth of our second child, I realized that "IT" was all about her. I knew then that I needed to write something about other men who may suffer from the same disorder I do, MTD-Male Tongue Dysfunction.
It's a goofy, funny quick read about how other couples (believe it or not) go through the exact same experiences you and I may go through. If you're a man, it's a perfect pocket guide for those times you say or do something stupid to your wife. It has 150 ideas or tips for survival. If you're a woman, the book is all out you...literally.
Enjoy the books and feel free to write a review. I really want to know what my readers think about the types of books I write. My favorite one so far was written by a huge fan of Romancing Mommy:
"Thanks for getting my wife all riled up. She read Romancing Mommy and now she's making me do things like clean parts of the house, give foot massages and going shopping with her. Your book has ruined my life." Love and sincerely...your father.
