From Her Surprise Pregnancy to 24-Hour Labor: 5 Biggest Revelations From Amanda Seyfried's Post-Baby Interview

Life has changed exponentially for Amanda Seyfried since March.

“I’m a parent now and I appreciate things in a way I never have,” the new mom, 31, shared in a recent interview with Dr. Berlin’s Informed Pregnancy Podcast.

During the lengthy chat, Seyfried covers everything pregnancy and opens up about giving birth to her first child, a baby girl, in March.

One thing she doesn’t share? Her and husband Thomas Sadoski‘s daughter’s name. “I wouldn’t want you to ask me what her name is, because I wouldn’t tell you. It’s about us as a family,” she explains of keeping the moniker close to the chest, adding, “Our friends [know] and you know what that caused? A lot of embroidery. A lot of embroidered towels.”

Read on for all the other things that the actress would reveal about motherhood.

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1. The pregnancy was “accidental” – but “the biggest blessing.”

Seyfried – who got engaged in September, just two months before the baby news broke – says that her pregnancy was not planned, but definitely a welcome surprise.

“We knew that we wanted to be together and make a baby, but you know, sometimes things happen and it’s the biggest blessing in the world,” she says. “We were so excited.”

The star says she suspected she was pregnant, and was “really excited” to take a test to confirm.

She explains, “You imagine these moments. Like being proposed to, and marrying somebody, walking down the aisle or having your baby and taking a pregnancy test. You imagine all these things, but when they really happen, you can’t believe it’s happening to you.”

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2. She revealed the baby news to Sadoski with a poem.

Sadoski happened to be out of town for work when Seyfried learned she was expecting, so the news became her “most important secret,” as the actress wanted to tell him in person.

“I can’t keep secrets and so that was the most impossible week of my life,” she admits.

So Seyfried crafted a poem and read it to her now-husband upon his return. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite get it after the first reading. “It was a little abstract. I had so much time to think about how and it was driving me crazy because the more time I had, the more ideas I’d have,” she says.

“I didn’t want to take anything away from the experience, I wanted to add to the experience,” Seyfried continues. “And I felt like I would have been taking away the moment that we could have shared the moment that he found out [by just sending a picture].”

3. She was in labor for an entire day.

“It was a 24-hour labor,” reveals Seyfried of delivering her daughter, insisting, “but it didn’t feel that long.”

Ten or 11 hours of labor were spent at home, the Mean Girls alum shares – first with just Sadoski on hand, and later, the couple was joined by the actress’ mother and doula. “I was crawling on all fours between contractions it was so bad,” she says, noting that she chose to get an epidural.

Overall, though, Seyfried says of the lengthy birthing experience, “I just felt really excited, and really safe and really lucky that I was healthy and she was healthy.”

4. The baby girl “connected” with her father immediately.

Seyfried says the first moment she met her daughter in the hospital is luckily captured all on video – and she can’t stop watching it.

“It was just perfect,” she admits. “It was quiet and beautiful, and it was the best moment of my life for sure. And I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Continues the star, “She was wonderful, she opened her eyes right away. We just connected. She connected with Tommy – that was the first person she looked at. I mean, father-daughter connection, it trumps everything.”

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5. She has a love-hate affair with breastfeeding.

“I was ready to quit about five days in because it was a searing pain and I couldn’t get a good latch,” Seyfried admits of breastfeeding, noting that she was also overproducing milk.

The actress also suffered from mastitis, a painful infection of the breast tissue which often occurs within the first six to 12 weeks after giving birth. Seyfried admitted that the process of feeding her daughter used to make her “stressed” and “fearful.”

Now, further along into motherhood, the Les Misérables star says she has “mastered” what works for her and her baby. She adds of her little girl, “She’s getting milk and she’s gaining weight like a champ.”