Daytime TV 1981

Erika Slezak: “I'm so happy, I can't wait to have another baby!”

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By Paul Denis

"Now that we have the son we dreamed of," says Erika Slezak, "I'd like to have another baby in two years...a daughter!"

Has she chosen a name yet for her next child?

"Not yet. It took us so long to find the right name for our son Michael ... give us time!"

Erika, who plays Viki Riley on One Life to Live, is deliriously happy with her baby Michael" born Jan. 23. He's getting heftier and more redheaded by the minute.

She and her husband, Brian Davies, are still tired from the drama of Michael's birth. He was delivered by Caesarean section, rather than by the LaMaze (natural childbirth) method, as originally planned. But they feel completely, fulfilled and excited by parenthood. To want another child seems logical and inevitable.

Ask her, "What would you expect from a daughter?" and she says, "Brian and I hope our children will grow up healthy and secure and well-adjusted. That's enough. We don't set any expectations beyond that."

When Erika was a little girl, her dad, the famous actor Walter Slezak, used to tease her: "Don't ever marry an actor!" And little, Erika would respond, "Look at mother...she married an actor and she did all right!"

But what if her own daughter would want. to marry an actor? "I'd never tell her not to. She'll marry the man she loves!

Would Erika's parents like to have a granddaughter? "Of course!" she says. "My parents now have three grandsons, so they'd welcome a girl! As for Brian's parents, he's an only child, and our son Michael is their first grandchild...so they'd love a granddaughter, too!"

Yes, Erika and Brian would opt again for the amniocentesis test which predicts the sex of the child. "Why not? The quicker we know we'll have a daughter, the better. But…and this is important…we'll love our next child, boy or girl.”

"It's wonderful turmoil having a baby around...I'm thrilled to be pooped!"

Their West Side Manhattan apartment is crowded with toys and gifts from fans, family, and Erika's castmates on One Life to Live. The phone keeps ringing, too. "Everybody wants to know how we feel and how's the baby."

"The red hair in our family comes from bloodshot eyes," quips Brian. "We're exhausted!"

“Yes, but it's a nice exhaustion," adds Erika. 'It's the wonderful turmoil you have in the house when a baby moves in for the first time. It means making space for the baby, finding room for infant stuff.

"Brian's been wonderful about the baby," she says happily. “He insists on doing the 2 a.m. feeding, so it gives me more time to rest. He's as thrilled to be a father as I am to be a mother!"

Ah, but getting back to the daughter she's dreamed of...

“Wait," says Erika. “Don't rush us! Come back and ask us again two years from now!"