Eva Mendes Opens Up About Her New Baby And Reveals Why She And Ryan Gosling Chose The Name Esmeralda

Eva Mendes is finally opening up about life as a mother and talking about her new baby Esmeralda Amada. The 40-year-old actress is also explaining why she and Ryan Gosling chose her name.

The Hitch actress has been hidden since giving birth to her first child in September. Now she is explaining how hard it is to be a mother and how invaluable it is to have help from her mother and Gosling's mother. "I'm completely exhausted. I thought my wild nights were over but these are some of the wildest nights I've ever had," Mendes told The Violet Files (which is Violet Grey's digital publication).

Despite the fact that both her and her boyfriend Gosling have successful acting careers, they aren't ready to become absentee parents and hire a slew of nannies. "I'm doing it without a nanny for now but I'm open to the idea of having a nanny in the future. Esmeralda has two amazing grandmothers and incredible aunties who come over and really help me," The Place Beyond the Pines actress explained.

"But as far as a nanny or a night nurse, for me that part of being a mother at this early stage is the struggle of not being able to sleep and not knowing what I'm doing and really going through it with her and battling out those nights."

A photo posted by VIOLET GREY (@violetgrey) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:45pm PST

Us Weekly previously reported that The Notebook star is very hands on when it comes to helping Eva raise their child together. "Ryan is thrilled it's a little girl," a source exclusively told Us Weekly in September. Despite being "a little nervous," the source added, "Ryan hasn't left Eva's side [since she gave birth]."

Before Esmeralda was born, Eva kept her pregnancy under the radar and she hopes to keep her daughter as sheltered from the press as possible. "Whether we like it or not, privacy is going to be very difficult for Esmeralda. I think it's unfair but that's our reality. So Ryan and I decided early on to give her as much privacy as we could. And my pregnancy was the first opportunity to give her that. It's such an intimate time for the mother, too," she revealed to The Violet Files.

When it came time to decide on the name, Eva revealed that it was a joint effort. "We both love the Esmeralda character from the Victor Hugo novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame and just think it's a beautiful name. Her middle is Amada, which was my grandmother's name. It means 'beloved' in Spanish," Eva said.