Photo: Amanda Friedman
Maria Menounosis sharing how she picked her newborn daughter’s name.
“Today is my daughter’s 1-month-old birthday. Happy birthday, Athena!” Menounos says.
“Hey, I love that name. Tell me the process,” Consuelos asks.
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Amanda Friedman
“It’s funny, I looked back … when I told Kevin I was pregnant and I was already calling her Athena in that video. I didn’t even realize,” Menounos tells Consuelos. “[Athena is] the goddess of war and wisdom and courage and strength, all of those wonderful things.”
“Her middle name, Alexandra, is the defender of human kind. I didn’t put all that stuff together, so it’s kind of crazy.”
“And she was born en caul. Have you guys ever heard of that before?” Menounos asks. “It’s super rare. So [the surrogate’s] water never broke. And the doctor asked, ‘Do you want to break her water?’ "
“I have a friend, she’s a doula — her name is Lori Bregman — and she taught me so many things so I was an informed participant in my daughter’s birth. She said, ‘If you don’t want to do that, you don’t have to.’ "
“So I said no and the nurse said, ‘You know, it’s really rare but some babies can be born en caul, which means they’re still in their embryonic sac.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s so cool,’ didn’t think anything of it,' " says Menounos.
“Normally I’d try to manifest it, but I didn’t have enough time, she was coming. And so she was born en caul, which they say those babies are born very special,” she shares. “They have a vision; they see things we can’t see.”
“So I was like, ‘Maybe she’s coming to save us!’ No pressure, Athena!”
“Happy 1-month-birthday, Athena! We love you!” Consuelos says.
source: people.com
