For the next six hours, Sarah Elliott had to hold the bat in her hands and think about how a ball was coming towards them and how to play it.
She is an Australian cricketer who played in the Women's Ashes Trophy against England. Previously, Sarah Elliott focused on cricket, but now things have changed.
In addition to playing cricket in August 2013, Sarah Elliott had to defend her nine-month-old son.
When she got off the floor during the game break, she would first find a separate room in the locker room and breastfeed her son Sam.
Elliott, 31, was the only mother on the team. She was making history by becoming the first female cricketer to tour with the Australian team after becoming a mother.
"I forgot ...", she says. Those poor girls.
"It came to our attention then. They didn't know what Express Milk was or how they took care of the kids."
"It came to our notice then. So I'd hide it under a towel, but you could still hear it. I used to look for a quiet place, but sometimes, like during a tea break, it couldn't be done in just 20 minutes'.
Just because an athlete is pregnant does not mean that their career is over. But this has happened many times in the past.
But now there is a demand for professional standards in women 's sports and athletes do not have to leave the sport to support their families.
There was a time when former England cricketer Lane Hutton rejected the idea of women playing cricket, saying, "This is absurd. It's like men starting to weave."
But now in this game better facilities are provided for motherhood. Cricket boards in various countries have adopted new policies for pregnant players to encourage them to start playing cricket again, and women are starting to look at motherhood from a different angle.
Take the example of Megan Shoot. Australian whipped bowls are one of the best bowls in the world. She is tall and bowls with her right hand. They also get a swing on grounds that other bowls can’t.
Megan was only 20 years old in the locker room when Elliott was playing cricket and taking care of Sam.
Megan is now 28 years old. She laughs and says Sarah was a hundred years old (dressing room) and when I looked at her she was busy taking care of her baby.
Very young. I was surprised to see this, when my eyes fell on his chest and I started laughing. But at that moment, my respect for him increased. '
"I used to respect her because I could see how tired she was for days. I knew she couldn't sleep through the night because of Sam. I used to think God! What kind of woman! is this it? "
When Megan married his wife Jess, they immediately talked about children. As a gay couple, they had limited options. Megan feared "as the child's real mother, she might not be able to communicate with him."
The couple chose a reciprocal IVF pathway (in vitro fertilization). In this, one party gives an egg for fertilization and the other party gets an embryo. This is not an easy task.
As an international cricketer, Megan has to train for several days, travel to other countries, and cricket activities have increased throughout the year. Together with Jess, they selected the first sperm, which was ordered from the United States. Then in January, Megan said, "Let 's let everything go, let' s get started."
On the second day of the next menstrual period, Megan begins this phase by injecting hormones into her body, which can speed up egg laying every night. They did this for four days and then received vaccination twice a day to prevent sudden ovulation.
“One injection was easy, the other wasn’t,” Megan says. I admit I thought it was very difficult. "
The second needle is thicker and the substance in it is thicker. You can feel it inside your skin. It was a mental barrier that had to be overcome. "
Doctors perform daily blood tests to monitor the ovaries, and Megan received the last injection 36 hours before the operation to remove them.
He is one of those people who has a habit of investigating. They had already seen videos of the whole procedure. He says it was not a good preparation. The eggs are drilled into the vaginal wall to expel them individually.
“I knew with that look that I would have 22 holes inside me,” he says.
Megan received anesthesia and the doctors told her to write on her hand how many eggs she had collected. She wakes up and sees this. When he got up, he saw that he had nothing written on his right hand. But there are 28 written on the left.
“They made a hole for me at least 28 times,” he says with a laugh. Of these 28, 27 were standard eggs. My favorite number is also 27. This is also very strange. And then they fertilize them. "
“About five days later, he called and said he had managed to get nine embryos, which is very good. They were then held before being placed in Jesus.
Megan hoped she would have time to rest after surgery. He did not like it and did not know how difficult it would be for him to recover.
“My ovary was big and it hurt,” he says.
He said it was like a menstrual cramp. But cramps are nothing but constant pain. After that, it’s hard to carry things. I like to change the shape of the house. We did this recently, but I found it hard to pick up the boxes. I thought or God! I can’t do that anymore. "
He had to run fast in his first training session for South Australia. "At the end of each round, I thought I was going to throw up."
"I think the pain started again when I ran away. Every time I sat down and thought it was enough, I would throw up. Then I would come back and do it again slowly."
It surprised him to find out that bowling was a little easier. But she did not feel “100 percent refreshed” for three weeks after surgery.
At the end of May, Megan and Jess announced that they would have a daughter in September.
If the couple is planning to have another baby, this time they will have Megan in their womb. “I saw Jess after I got pregnant and no decision, it’s not for me,” she smiles.
Megan believes she will not have another child while playing for Australia. But that can be done by playing state cricket. All of this is possible through Cricket Australia’s new pregnancy policy, which supports female players during pregnancy and delivery.
In Australia, cricket gets a 12-month license on state, national and Big Bash contracts for childbirth or adoption, which are also paid. His contract will be extended next year.
The New Zealand Cricket Board has a similar policy. When their daughter Grace was born in January 2020 to the winner Amy Setroit, a center contract was kept for her after she became pregnant. And he continued to receive his full annual salary.
Pakistan has recently issued new guidelines under which 12 months maternity leave will be granted with compensation. In addition to playing before the start of the holidays, it also offers other executives.
In response to the Daily Telegraph, the England and Wales Cricket Board said that after the birth of a child, female players are paid in full for the first 12 weeks and 90 per cent for the next 20 weeks.
These are clearly important steps. This includes financial support and pregnancy assistance through delivery.
Dr Christie Elliott Cell, an associate professor at Nottingham Trent University, says athletes who become mothers are "superstars" and must "prepare for significant change."
No such change has occurred uniformly throughout the world, but Drs. Christie discovered that weight and other changes are quite common. Walking (pelvic pain) is a long-term problem.
Elliott was in the gym two weeks after giving birth to Sam. He played his first game when he was six weeks old.
“Every parent finds it difficult to operate and raise their children at the same time,” he says. And I think the story is different when you play a central role in the care, that is, you nurture it. "
"It can cause physical fatigue when your body is recovering. That's the real challenge."
When Jack was born Elliott’s second son in 2014, he considered retiring. But at the time, it was to be the first Big Bash Series for women. They offered him the captain of the Melbourne Renegades. The series is now one of the best series for T20 women.
“It was very difficult to go back to the first two training sessions, especially on fitness,” he says.
When I woke up in the morning and ran away, I thought, ‘What am I trying to do? Why did I come here? But once you get into the team environment and the game, everything becomes easier.
Elliott returned as captain six months after Jack's birth.
“Obviously I wasn’t excited at the time,” she says.
I was a little tired and unattractive. It was a difficult step but I had the support of my teammates, coaching staff, family and Rob’s husband.
Western Storm sniper Claire Nichols is currently pregnant with her second child. She works as a teacher and her staff received support during IVF.
He was going to play for the Welsh Fire in the inaugural season of The Hundred this summer. He had to withdraw from the measure, but the team made it clear that they will be part of plans for the future.
“I have to listen to my body,” he says. I want to stress myself out, but when a man grows up in you, you know when to stop and I'm barely used to it. "
The experiences of these three cricketers, Elliott, Megan and Nicholas, were different. But she agrees that she is now supporting her return to cricket after becoming a mother.
Nicholas pointed to the growing cricketing activity in England and Wales. The new contracts mean more money and more funding.
Megan admits that she wanted to teach young players that being a professional cricketer can give you a mother. According to him, this led to an increase in his trend towards IVF and that is where everyone started supporting each other.
Players were placed in the BioSecure bubble during the Big Bash last November 2020.
Amy, his wife, and New Zealand athlete Lee Tahoe were here with their daughter Grace. Megan smiles at the thought of this. "It was a beautiful sight."
"People were happy to help at any time. I know it made many days for girls better. Maybe one day you miss a game or the day goes bad, but when you see Grace did six things clear to you.
Elliott said it gave him a chance to think more when Sam accompanied him on a tour around England. He helped them so that cricket didn’t take his time.
She was tired and had to get up four times the night before the ash test. But his family helped him. Sam was there when his mother finished one of the great ashes for centuries.
“Sam is eight and a half years old now and she doesn’t remember anything,” Elliott says.
"But sometimes he sees a picture or someone tells him we saw your picture with your mother."
"It came to our attention then. And enjoy watching."
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