Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 27, 1995                   TAG: 9503270093
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

PREGNANT LAWMAKER TO SERVE AND DELIVER

``Right here,'' she said, gesturing from behind her desk to the other side of the room.

Come September, the Utah Republican will become the second member of Congress to have a baby while in office. The first was then-Rep. Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, 20 years ago.

Waldholtz is planning a matching pair of nurseries - one in the home she and her husband, Joe, have in Salt Lake City, the other in the house they're renting near Washington.

That way, they can travel more easily, she added. ``One of us will carry the baby and the other of us will carry a big fat briefcase.''

Waldholtz, 36, juggles her role as mother-to-be with that of freshman lawmaker toiling for passage of ``Contract With America'' provisions. Last week, she backed amendments to increase child-care funding and toughen enforcement of child support, then helped pass the GOP's welfare bill. Her staff describes her as ``a strong fiscal conservative'' who supports the balanced budget amendment, term limits and government reform.

Waldholtz made history when Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., tapped her as the first House newcomer to sit on the powerful Rules Committee in 80 years. Gingrich wanted a freshman, a woman and a Westerner, according to aides, and someone who could stand her ground in the partisan give-and-take required of panel members.

The former corporate lawyer learned she was pregnant early in the year, and intends to keep working until her scheduled September delivery.

The reaction has been positive at home, she says, noting that her heavily Mormon state has the highest U.S. concentration of schoolchildren. ``It's somehow appropriate, I think, for a Utah representative to have a child.''

Back in the Capitol, ``There are at least a half a dozen members who now call me Mom,'' she said. ``Babies bring out the best in people.''

Gingrich arranged for her to have a ``tiny broom closet'' in the Capitol to spare her frequent hikes to and from her office across the street.

The room off a basement corridor can be wired for her computer, has a television so she can keep abreast of developments on the House floor and contains a cabinet that delights her. ``Oh, look, Joe,'' she said to her husband. ``The baby's things can go in here.''