42-year-old ballroom dancer Karina Smirnoff has revealed that breastfeeding her son was a shock to her. Speaking during "NAMI and One Mind's Stronger than you think virtual mental health" event, she said that she felt like she was going to be a dairy cow! Karina welcomed her son in April and she announced the good news on her Instagram account with a photo of her son's feet. She captioned the post by welcoming her son Theo Gabriel to the world. The first time mom said that she was anxious before giving birth to her son and wondered how it was going to be yet she didn't even know how to hold a baby or how to change a diaper!
However, motherhood skills come naturally and Karina was advised to stop worrying since everything would fall in place instinctively. She said that parenting has taught her patience and every day is a new experience for her since the baby is growing every day! Karina felt overwhelmed with the anxiety of being a new and first-time mom and decided to move in with her parents so that they could help her get through the challenges of first time parenting.
According to US Weekly Magazine, staying indoors under one roof with her parents during the lockdown was challenging for her especially since it has been a long time since she has lived with them. Although she loves her parents to death, she felt that staying indoors with them was a very different experience. However, whenever she is stressed, she closes herself in a room and listens to her favorite music and she comes out fine.
The Dancing with the Stars pro announced last December that she was expecting and she did so on Instagram with a photo of her holding a pregnancy testing kit that showed positive results. She captioned the post saying that she was excited to start a new chapter in her life. She added that she had always wanted to be a mother and different emotions were going through her. She revealed that she was nervous, excited, and overwhelmed.
Karina has never revealed the identity of her son's father. Although the father of her son remains anonymous, she revealed to PEOPLE in 2015 after quitting her relationship with fiancé Jason Adelman that she would love to be a wife and a mom someday. Karina has dated Mario Lopez, was engaged to Maksim Chmerkovskiy in 2009, dated professional baseball player Brad Penny, and has been engaged to Jason Edelman but called the engagement off after two months.
Sources: dailymail.co.uk, usmagazine.com, people.com