Maria Menounos shared an update on how she’s adjusting to first-time parenthood after welcoming daughter Athena.
“Hi friends! Motherhood is going great,” she gushed in an Instagram post on Wednesday, August 9, giving fans a new glimpse of her baby girl. “Athena is an Angel. She’s currently asleep on me as we get some morning light. I’m so in love it’s crazy.”
In the sweet snap, Menounos, 45, wore a T-shirt that read “Mother” in a Barbie-inspired font. She cradled Athena, whom she shares with husband Keven Undergaro, in her arms.
Menounos went on to thank her fans for their support on her path to becoming a mom. “I look back at the last 6 years-it’s been kinda crazy,” she wrote. “Mom gets a brain tumor, then me, two brain surgeries later, then both my parents are hospitalized with covid, then I lost my mom, then I got diagnosed with type one diabetes, then a Neuro endocrine tumor on my pancreas…some other crazy stuff in between too.”
She noted that Undergaro, 55, encourages her to “sit back and acknowledge” all that she’s been through to get to where she is now. “Maybe at some point I will dig in deeper,” she continued. “Right now just that list makes me so grateful to be alive and to have thrived. To be here to enjoy this beautiful little girl. … I pray all of it is behind us and only great days ahead!”
Menounos announced in February that she and Undergaro, who tied the knot in 2017, were expecting a baby. After 10 years of fertility challenges, the twosome used a surrogate to help expand their family.
Us Weekly broke the news of Athena’s birth last month, with Menounos confessing that she “almost” gave up on the idea of having a child — until she found the right surrogate.
“We love her and her family so much,” she told Us. “They gave us the greatest gift ever. We still talk all the time and consider them family.”
The surrogate, meanwhile, had already welcomed two babies of her own before connecting with Menounos and Undergaro. “I was thrilled to be able to support them and make [their dream] a reality,” she told Us while describing her “instant” bond with the couple.
Athena’s birth was the “most special moment” of Menounos’ life — and her husband agreed. “It was like Christmas morning times a million,” he told Us last month.
