By Alex Christodoulides
But do not think her pregnancy has slowed her down.”If not for all the tests weekly during my first trimester, I wouldn't have known. Everybody's healthy so far,” she said in a telephone interview Monday about her pregnancy, for which she relied on in-vitro fertilization.The 42-year-old single mother-to-be expects to keep working and continue with planned fund-raisers for her campaign, which will not heat up until late this year and into 2009.”It's a year to the campaign trail and by the time it comes he'll be a year old,” she said.Katz plans to raise the baby in the Forest Hills house where she grew up and still lives.”It's my community, my home, my synagogue. I grew up here, and the baby's going to grow up in same room I grew up in,” she said.Katz has not yet decided on a name for the baby, but family ties are at the forefront of her mind. Her father, David Katz, founder of the Queens Symphony Orchestra, raised his children on his own after the death of his wife when the councilwoman was 3.”The middle name will certainly be my father's name, David, but I'm open to suggestions on the first name,” she said. “My father was a single parent and managed to bring up four children of various age groups, and I plan to bring up my son the same way.”She stressed that the choice to have a baby on her own was hers and that if she could be a role model for others weighing their options to have children, she would be happy. Many of her colleagues and most of her opponents have children, though few are unmarried.”It's been a very long process for me, a little over two years trying,” she said. “I almost lost the child a few times and I wanted to make sure it took” before announcing the news, which first appeared in the New York Post.”It's a personal decision, it's nothing to do with politics. If I could help women with infertility problems, I think it's a good thing,” she said.Katz is looking forward to the arrival of her son.”It's two months to go. Right now, I'm just thinking 10 fingers and 10 toes,” she said.Reach reporter Alex Christodoulides by e-mail at achristodoulides@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
