Shakira suffered sleepless nights during pregnancy

New mom Shakira suffered sleepless nights while expecting her first child because she drove herself crazy researching everything that could go wrong during pregnancy.

The Hips Don't Lie hitmaker fell pregnant with her soccer star boyfriend Gerard Pique's baby last year (12), and while the singer insists she was lucky to have a fairly smooth journey to motherhood, she reveals her health fears kept her awake at night after spending hours upon hours looking up medical problems online.

She says, "(My pregnancy) was easy because I didn't have nausea or cravings or any of that stuff, but I couldn't sleep at all during my entire pregnancy because I spent every night researching on the Internet trying to find out everything that could possibly go wrong... You can ask me anything; I'm like a walking encyclopedia, I know everything about pregnancy. I'm like a certified gynaecologist!"

Shakira welcomed baby boy Milan in January (13), but she confesses the birthing process wasn't quite what she thought it would be.

She tells talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, "Delivering a baby is not as idyllic as people make it seem. Don't expect that he is going to be rosy cheeks, cherub when he is born. Actually, when I saw mine, I was like, 'Oh my God. He is purple and wrinkled. What is this?'"

And the sexy superstar struggled to come to terms with her post-baby body as she faced up to the task of losing the extra pregnancy pounds: "Looking at your new image in the mirror... I looked like a Shar-Pei (dog) when I first delivered. I was like, 'Oh my God. Am I ever going to be sexy again? Is my man ever going to feel attracted to me again the way he used to be?' All these things that you deal with, all these fears that come to you."

Shakira, who is now a coach on The Voice, managed to regain her slim figure within weeks, thanks to dance-based workout Zumba, but she recently admitted she still had a little way to go: "I'm still a few pounds over. But I do Zumba. Even during pregnancy, I did it almost until the end. But now, with the show, I don't have time. When I have a day off, I want to be with Milan."