ENTERTAINMENT
Maria Menounos Shares Why She Named Daughter Athena: ‘She’s Coming to Save Us’
Maria Menounos is sharing how she picked her newborn daughter’s name.
While guest hosting Friday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, the TV personality, 45, revealed that it was Athena’s 1-month-old birthday and told Mark Counselos, 52, how she decided on her 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.
“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.”
Menounos recently welcomed her first baby, daughter Athena, via surrogate with husband Keven Undergaro.
“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.
[via]
