Maria Menounos is over the moon after welcoming her first baby, a child woman, by way of surrogate final month.
In an Us Weekly story revealed Wednesday, Menounos, a former E! Information correspondent, talked about her “miracle child,” Athena Alexandra, and defined what it’s prefer to lastly be a mother after a 10-year wrestle with infertility and a number of other critical well being points.
“[It’s] higher than I might’ve ever imagined,” the “Further!” host advised the journal. “It’s euphoric. For therefore lengthy, I’ve felt one thing’s been lacking. I’d go to children’ birthday events, and I’d be somewhat unhappy as a result of I wished my circle of relatives. And now I really feel so grounded, like I lastly know the place I belong.”
Menounos additionally described the “magical expertise” she had along with her surrogate, whom she thanked for giving her and her husband, TV producer Keven Undergaro, “the best present ever.”
Nathan Congleton/NBC by way of Getty Photographs
Menounos and Undergaro initially tried to get pregnant by the use of in vitro fertilization, however she was suggested towards carrying a child after she overcame a benign mind tumor in 2017.
It took them a number of years to search out the appropriate surrogate, and late final yr they realized had been anticipating ― simply earlier than Menounos was identified with stage 2 pancreatic most cancers.
In February, she underwent a “tremendous painful” surgical procedure to take away elements of her pancreas, in addition to her spleen, 17 lymph nodes and a fibroid that she stated was “the dimensions of a child.”
“I’ve a C-section scar, principally, although I by no means had a child,” Menounos joked. “I gave delivery differently!”
Athena was born in Milwaukee on June 23, and Menounos received to be there for her arrival, which she known as “probably the most particular second of my life.”
Menonous remembered assembly her daughter, telling Us: “The physician actually grabbed her and hiked her onto me. I sat along with her on my chest, and Keven and I stored taking a look at one another like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It was simply pure pleasure.”
Regardless of dealing with a yr filled with “trauma, stress [and] disaster,” the TV host struck an optimistic tone when she went public about her most cancers battle in Could.
“I’m so grateful and so fortunate,” she advised Individuals journal on the time. “God granted me a miracle. I’m going to understand having [my baby] in my life a lot greater than I’d have earlier than this journey.”
