Photo: Callie Lipkin Photography
Mina Starsiak Hawk‘s biggest priority on delivery day? Making sure she and her son were healthy — and as comfortable as possible.
In an exclusive interview for the Oct. 29 issue of PEOPLE, theGood Bonesstar and husbandStephen Hawkopened up about their new life as a family of three with sonJack Richard, whom they welcomed Aug. 9 via cesarean section after she decided to be “flexible” in the sense of not having a birth plan.
“We were inducing a week early in the 39th week, and that just didn’t go as they planned. My body just said, ‘No, we’re not going to dilate anymore,’ ” recalls Starsiak Hawk, 33. “We were in the hospital for about 30 hours and they decided in the wee hours of the morningwe’re going C-section.”
The new mom admits she really wanted an Aug. 8 birth date, for the “8-8-18” novelty. She explains, “I actually asked [the nurse], it was like a half hour before midnight, and I was like, ‘Can we make some calls here? [We’d love to]get that birth date if we could.’ ”
Unfortunately, her request was denied. “She was like, ‘No, no, no. That’s not how it works. We’re going to wait a little longer,’ ” Hawk tells PEOPLE.
Callie Lipkin Photography
Mina Starsiak/Instagram
Luckily, Starsiak Hawk didn’t have her heart set on a specific way she wanted to give birth. “I feel like everyone who has [a birth plan], they go to s— anyways. So my birth plan was I’m going to get an epidural, and I’m going to be flexible,” she explains.
“I needed to do something where I felt like not a blob,” says Starsiak Hawk. “But I’ve just been gentle with myself. I didn’t do anything over 20 lbs. the first time, and it’s been nice to get back in the groove of a routine.”
“Even before Jack, we all get into our slumps where it’s winter and then you don’t work out for a week and it turns into two weeks,” she adds. “If I don’t fortoo long it affects how I sleep, and it affects my mood. I think it’s been super helpful. I haven’t had any postpartum stuff, so I’ve been lucky, but I think the working out helps with that too.”
RELATED VIDEO:Good BonesStar Mina Starsiak Hawk Talks “Night Sickness,” Cravings and How Her Pregnant Body Is Changing
Starsiak Hawk also opened up aboutreturning to work six weeks after giving birthand the mommy shaming she has encountered on social mediasurrounding breastfeeding andletting her pit bull Frank hang out with Jack.
“People love to share their opinions before you have kids, but I feel like afterward everyone has negative, or positive, or some kind of opinion about everything: breastfeeding, or how you’re carrying them, or if they’re around your pet,” she says.
“In a lighthearted way, I said, ‘I know you really want to, but if you can just try to refrain fromsaying that my evil pit bull will eat my [son]that would be lovely.’ ”
For more from Mina Starsiak Hawk, pick up the latest issue ofPEOPLE, on newsstands now.
source: people.com
