Alyssa Milano: How I Knew I Was Having a Girl

Plus: The star explains why she's not stressing about gaining — or losing — baby weight

Alyssa Milano could tell something was different about her second pregnancy when she found herself feeling nauseated — a fate she avoided while carrying son Milo Thomas, who turns 3 next month.

“I had morning sickness this time, but it went away right at 12 weeks,” Milano, 41, says in the August/September issue of Fit Pregnancy, on newsstands Thursday. “With Milo, I didn’t have a minute of morning sickness. So I knew it was going to be a girl.”

The Mistresses star and husband David Bugliari announced in May that they’re expecting a daughter in early fall. And just like last time around, she’s setting aside obsessing over her image to focus on delivering and nurturing her baby girl.

“A female body is not made to look good in a bikini. It’s made to give birth and have a baby and be a cozy companion for it afterward. And for my body, that meant putting on a lot of weight,” says Milano, who gained 55 pounds while pregnant with Milo.

“I didn’t indulge in fast food or junk food, so I knew it was a healthy weight. I just realized: This is what my body needs to do to have a healthy baby.”

The former Charmed star has handily dealt with haters in the past, getting comedian Jay Mohr to publicly apologize for knocking her post-baby body in January with a classy Tweet reading, “So sorry you felt the need to publicly fat-shame me. Be well and God Bless. Please send my love to your beautiful wife.”

In Fit Pregnancy, Milano — who now exercises with pre-natal yoga, Pilates and chasing after her toddler — expands on her refreshing philosophy.

“We don’t get hungry when we’re pregnant for no reason,” she says.

“You’re making a skeletal system. You’re making organs. I refuse to look at the scale. I didn’t look at the scale with Milo until the day I gave birth. It’s funny, my file was open at my appointment yesterday and there was a big Post-it note that said, ‘She does not want to know her weight.'”

As for having children in her 40s, Milano says she’s at the perfect place for motherhood.

“I loved waiting a long time to be a mom. I’d had my ladies’ lunches and my shopping days,” she explains.

“When Milo finally came, I thought — This is what I’ve waited for my entire life. I wish I could sleep more, but it’s not like I wish there were other things I could be doing socially or for my own benefit. Because I really feel like he’s completed me.”

— Michele Corriston

[