Beyoncé Knowles had her eyebrows waxed before she went into hospital to give birth.

The superstar singer and her husband Jay-Z welcomed their first daughter, Blue Ivy, into the world in January. At the time there were reports the couple had arranged for a special birthing suite to be created for them at the New York City hospital and had employed intense security.

Beyoncé's preparation for the birth was actually much less exciting.

'I did have a fresh eyebrow wax,' she laughed to People magazine, who just named her the most beautiful woman of 2012.

'I got my nails done, I got my feet done, had my hair done, and I had my little lip gloss.'

Despite her best intentions, the 30-year-old singer didn't look that glamorous while she was having Blue. That isn't something she cares about though, as she insists it's to be expected.

'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... I barely recognised myself,' she laughed.

'But after many hours of labour, I could care less about anything but my child. I didn't care how I looked.'

Giving birth made Beyoncé feel the most 'powerful' she ever has and as if she was born to be a mother.

She put on 50lbs. while expecting, revealing 20lbs. of that was in the last month of her pregnancy.

'I lost most of my weight from breastfeeding and I encourage women to do it; It's just so good for the baby and good for yourself,' she said.

'[After that] I counted calories. I worked out maybe three to four times a week. I did a lot of walking in the beginning and now I'm running. But I had to work my way up. I couldn't just go right from being pregnant to running.

'I'm proud that my waist came back so fast. I'm proud of that and happy, but that was mostly from the breastfeeding.'

The star only has a couple of pounds to go until she is back at her pre-baby weight. Her shape is softer now though, which is due to hormones. The star loves her new figure and wouldn't change it for anything.