Maria Menounos Shares the Unbelievable Sign She Saw Right Before She Became a Mom

Motherhood is everything Maria Menounos dreamed of—and more.

"It's way more than I thought it ever would be," the TV personality told Parade in an exclusive interview. Menounos and her husband Keven Undergaro welcomed their first child, daughter Athena, via surrogate in June following a decade-long fertility journey.

"She has just lit us all up," the doting mom says of her baby girl. "We are on happy-crack in this house. It's Christmas morning every single day. I don't know how else to explain it. She's just everything and I love being a mom."

While motherhood is "the best job in the world" for the Heal Squad x Maria Menounos podcast host, it wasn't something that she always manifested for herself. She also had plenty of fear and doubt throughout her fertility journey—fear that lasted up until two days before the implantation, when she received a meaningful sign that everything was going to work out. But we have more on that below.

Continue reading for more from Parade's exclusive interview with Maria Menounos—who has partnered with RXBAR to co-create ManifX bars—on motherhood, plus her message to other individuals struggling to have a family.

Can you take us back to the moment when you first got to hold Athena, what was that like?

It was a little scary because she was just coming out of the womb. The doctor basically grabbed her and put her right on my chest. And so I was nervous not to drop her, but I was so overwhelmed with just excitement and awe at what was happening.

She was born en caul, which means her water never broke, so she was still in the embryonic sac, which is very rare. And they say babies that are born like that have a vision that we don't have. They see things we don't see, so we're kind of thinking she's gonna be super intuitive, but we'll see. So I watched them peel that off of her, which was super cool.

For maybe the first two weeks, I would just run around the house like, "Oh my God, I have a baby. She's my baby. This is unbelievable. I have a baby. Did you know I have a baby?"

Related: Maria Menounos Reflects on 'Special Moment' Welcoming 1st Child via Surrogate

It's only been a few months, but how do you think motherhood has already changed you?

I think it's helping me prioritize. You know, I'm still getting invited to things and still [being] asked to do things and I'm looking at them through a very different lens now, and if it's super important, I'll pop in and pop out and everyone's super respectful and understanding that I have a newborn at home.

But I still want to be there for friends and their important moments and still do important work like I am with RXBAR here and my show Heal Squad as well. But I'm being a lot more selective with what I do and yeah, because I just want to be with her.

What has surprised you the most since embarking on this new journey?

You know, so many things. How much I love being a mom. I didn't know what that was gonna be like. Just how much joy she's brought to our home.

Seeing my dad just, you know, gain maybe 30 years. I think he's gonna live to 150 with her. My dad surprised me because they usually say guys it takes, you know, for the kids to be older for them to connect. She looked at my dad like he was God from second one and the two of them were as thick as thieves from go and we would all just watch their bond and I was like, "Oh my God, I don't even have that bond with her that he has." So I'm like maybe this is past life stuff.

But watching Kevin be a dad has been so special and I don't know it's just so amazing to feel like a family. It's just such a beautiful feeling.

You've been so open about your journey... What's your message to other women who are struggling to have the family that you now have?

My message [is] to stick with it and try your hardest to be patient. I was really patient through this almost 10-year journey because I knew that there was divine timing that had to be.

I knew that she was gonna come when she was supposed to come and had she come at other times, I would have been knee-deep in caretaking for my mom and wouldn't have been able to be there for her the way I needed to be there and my attention would have been split in such a difficult way, or with my career and all of that.

We, you know, can only do so much. We can't control everything. We can work on manifesting the things that we want, but they still come at the time they're supposed to come, so just be patient and have faith and really, really connect with whatever higher power it is for you and stay hopeful.

Related: Maria Menounos Reveals Secret Health Battle

Do you feel like motherhood is something that you always manifested for yourself?

I don't think so. When I was younger, I knew I wanted to be a mom and then I got really busy with my career. Then my parents were my kids and my dogs were my kids. And then when I started doing this journey for babies, that was like 10 years ago.

I still had fear throughout the whole journey. You know, is this the right thing for me? Is this gonna be good? Am I gonna be happy? Is this, you know, gonna take away from my life in any kind of way? So there were a lot of fears... I wasn't really sure, even two days before we were implanting, I looked at my husband outside and I said, "Hey, it's do or die. If you don't think this is right for us, this is the moment. We've got to make a decision."

And I swear to God, and I have video because I got my camera out fast, a huge stork flew out of my magnolia tree and flew across the street to a tree. And I was like, "You got to be kidding me—if that isn't a sign that this is meant to be."

And then the day before I told my dad, another one in Connecticut at our house flew by. So I think those were all signs that this was supposed to be, but you never know until it happens.

Related: Trying to Get Pregnant? Here's A List of Fertility Treatments Available to You

You've teamed up with RXBAR to co-create the ManifX bars, which are going to have writable wrappers for daily manifesting... Do you believe in the power manifestation? When did you start manifesting for yourself?

I realized I'd been manifesting before I even knew what that was. So from a young age, I would always visualize big, big things and dream big and dream bigger than was, you know, probably possible, and so I've been manifesting before the label officially came to be. And when it came to be, I was actually more intentional about it.

That's why this partnership with RXBAR is so great because they have a whole no-BS approach to their ingredients list, as well as health and wellness. I share and resonate with that so much and that's what we do here on the show every single day on Heal Squad. So, [I'm] collaborating with them to make these manifestation bars, called ManifX, where you can have this customizable wrapper to write all of your dreams and goals on and have it be your daily reminder of where you're headed. What you want in life. You are the creator of your life, and what you believe will be, so I write down everything that I want.

We actually had a guest on our show that said, "Those who write down their goals are 42 percent more likely to achieve them." So we have to write them down. We have to think them. We have to feel them. We have to believe them.

And manifesting is that—but I also believe that you have to walk the walk too. You know, Santa's not showing up and just bringing you everything. You have to be putting in the work, but it doesn't mean that you have to burn the candle at both ends. It just means you have to be intentional about everything and you have to be, you know, working towards all of these goals.

That's why I love this project because [for] anybody who hasn't really figured out their way and manifesting, this is a great way to start and focus on what you do you want. We all spend so much time in our minds catastrophizing, living in fear, thinking about what we don't want, [so] how about we shift into what we do want and actually create our own reality?

If you go to RXBARManifX.com starting September 7, you can enter in to get these bars. It's a limited edition, but I promise they're a protein-packed, delicious little chocolate delight for you and they'll be your accountability partner in your journey to achieving your goals.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Next, How To Manifest Anything in 10 Simple Steps, According To Real People Who’ve Done It