The 33-year-old actress welcomed her third child last month.
Hilary Duff wanted her 9-year-old son, Luca, involved in the birth of her third child, daughter Mae.
In a recent episode of Dr. Berlin's Informed Pregnancy Podcast, the 33-year-old Younger star opened up about the end of her pregnancy and home birth.
Duff and her husband, Matthew Koma, welcomed their daughter, Mae, in late March in a home water birth. And though Luca didn't make it home from school in time to be there for his youngest sister's arrival, Duff did prepare her son for what he might have witnessed had he been there.
"He wanted to be there for it, but it happened so fast, he missed it," she shared of her three-hour labor. "It was kind of important for me because I'm really big on being open and honest with him about how strong women are and what childbirth looks like. He knows all about periods and how it's important for me to normalize that conversation with him for all the women that are going to be in his life."
The mother of three noted that she feels a responsibility to make sure her son understands that strength comes from different places.
"I think sometimes a 9-year-old boy is like, 'Well, men have bigger muscles.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, but we bring life into this world. We move a baby through our body,'" she explained. "So it's a big topic of conversation in the house right now is equality and strength coming from different places besides your muscles."
In fact, Duff pulled Mae out herself during the delivery.
"I pulled her out, which was really cool. I can't believe I did that," she shared, adding of the birth of her 2-year-old daughter, Banks, "I felt so weak with Banks, but I think that was because I labored all day. I didn't have the energy. Matt was literally holding me up for that birth."
Duff noted that she also wanted to include Luca in her birth process so that he would be respectful of his future partner's birth plan.
As for whether she's open to having more kids, Duff noted she wavers, but that she thinks Koma would be ready to welcome another one.
"I think he totally would be down, but he recognizes that I have to do all the work," she said of her husband.
The couple chose not to find out the gender of their newest addition in advance.
"I don't know if it was as big of a deal as I thought it was going to be," she said of finding out the gender. "I had just done so much work that I didn't really care. I never really cared."
Though she predicted she was having a baby boy, Duff said she's happy to have another girl, though she's "terrified for the two teenage daughters" one day.
She was convinced she was having a baby boy because she had no urge to have sex leading up to Mae's birth.
"Sex really was not interesting for me at all this time around. Towards the end with Banks that felt like a really helpful slash fun tool. This time I was like, nope, not for me," she shared. "Honestly, I thought I was having a boy because with Banks I was totally down.... I felt a little more protective of my body this time around."
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