It’s been 10 months since Candice Swanepoel became a mom, but she still remembers the details of her “natural, no drugs” childbirth.
“I don’t wanna put anyone off of having kids,” the 28-year-old Victoria’s Secret Angel and face of Juicy Couture’s new fragrance Viva La Juicy Glacé tells PEOPLE when asked if the delivery of son Anacan was painful.
“I think society has made women afraid of giving , but it’s totally doable if you prepare yourself in the right way,” she adds.
Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Babies newsletter.
RELATED VIDEO: Candice Swanepoel Welcomes Baby Boy
Swanepoel — who is engaged to Anacan’s father, her longtime beau and fellow model Hermann Nicoli — is already back shooting for the famous lingerie brand, but says she didn’t feel the pressure to get back to her pre-baby figure from anyone aside from herself.
“I was actually surprised how quickly the body can go back. We’re amazing creatures,” she says. “Definitely the three- four-month mark, I was like, ‘Oh, is it ever going back?’ I just think taking care of the baby. Breastfeeding also helps.”
RELATED: Celeb Quotes of the Day: Kate Winslet, Salma Hayek & More
RELATED GALLERY: 7 Celeb Moms Who Shut Down Public Breastfeeding Shamers
After missing last year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show due to the birth of her baby boy, the new mama says she plans to walk in November’s show, calling modeling “more of a feminine industry” when asked if she’d be okay with Anacan following in his parents’ footsteps.
“I feel like you could do better as a female model. If I had a daughter and felt that she could do really well it would be fine,” Swanepoel explains. “I don’t think I would want her to get into it unless I knew she would do really well. Because it’s amazing, but it’s not super easy.”
The best part of motherhood for the style superstar? “Everything,” she says: “He’s been so sweet and been so good. Everybody is like, ‘You’re so blessed with a good baby.’ I feel like the next one will be a terror just to remind me.”
Swanepoel’s baby boy’s name, Anacan, is from Portuguese and was “originally spelled differently,” she reveals, explaining that the moniker was inspired by good friends of the couple from Nicoli’s native Brazil.
“It’s an indigenous name from the Amazon,” Swanepoel says. “I’ve always been amazed by the Indian culture of Brazil because I came from such a strong culture in South Africa — the Zulu area. Strong culture is really amazing to me, so we were talking names it was the first one that popped into our heads that we both liked.”
FROM PEN: Supermodel Christie Brinkley is 63 and back in SI’s Swimsuit Issue with Her Daughters!
Anacan’s name isn’t the only influence the little guy will get to look forward to from his parents’ backgrounds. Swanepoel shares that she plans to instill some of the ways she grew up during her son’s childhood.
“We had the most amazing upbringing on a farm and just free, South Africa is culturally super different here,” she says. “But in Brazil with him until he was 5 months, and then I came here.”
“So I’m still trying to feel it out. But New York is amazing,” continues the model. “There are so many parks, classes and just amazing exposure to so many amazing things.”
Reporting by SHARON KANTER
- Comment
