'It makes me laugh thinking about it,' singer tells People of her pre-baby beauty regime.
By Jocelyn Vena
Beyoncé
Photo: Getty Images
Beyoncé loves her some heels. In the days leading up to the birth of her baby, Blue Ivy, Queen B was spotted around New York with her hubby, Jay-Z, and her stilettos. People magazine's Most Beautiful Woman has opened up about wanting to stay as glam as possible, right up until she went into labor.
"I didn't feel that I looked beautiful during birth — but who does? After being pumped with all those fluids and gaining so much weight, with my swollen lips and cheeks, I barely recognized myself," she said in the issue hitting newsstands Friday, Pressparty.com reports. "I tried my best to roller-set my hair and I wore my [lip] gloss when I arrived at the hospital."
But all of that hard work went out the window once the really hard work of having the baby kicked in. "I committed to the end and wore my kitten heels. It makes me laugh thinking about it," she recalled. "But after many hours of labor, I didn't care how I looked. It was all about the miracle that God gave me — the opportunity to deliver a human being."
Beyoncé may not have felt hot in the hospital, but fans were certainly surprised by how hot she looked for her first post-baby appearance, hitting the New York party scene to celebrate Jay-Z's Carnegie Hall shows in February, weeks after giving birth. The singer herself was surprised by how quickly she managed to look so good.
"I'm proud that my waist came back so fast. ... I had to get my tone back. I'm definitely softer," she said. "But I feel my body bouncing back. Whatever was tight and muscular, like my legs, I'm seeing it come back. You just have to work at it."
Beyoncé will return to the stage next month for several shows in Atlantic City. She's also reportedly working on new music to follow up 2011's 4.
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Today, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, obesity affects 17 percent of children and adolescents in the United States. To kick-start physical activity and learning throughout the summer ? a critical out-of-school time for kids ? the YMCA of South Hampton Roads is celebrating Healthy Kids Day? with a free community event on April 28 at every family center. Summer is the ideal time for kids to get up, get out and grow, but for some kids, exposure to activities that stimulate the body and mind ends with the school year. In fact, research shows that kids are more prone to gain weight and fall behind academically over the summer months.
A leading nonprofit committed to strengthening community through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, the Y holds Healthy Kids Day to improve the health and well-being of kids. As part of this initiative, the Y ? along with hundreds of thousands of parents and kids nationwide ? is taking on summer by addressing critical gaps in health and education that cause kids to be at increased risk for childhood obesity and suffer summer learning loss.