Pregnant on the terraces

I'm not quite sure how many football blogs have ever been written about attending matches through pregnancy but I am going to give it a go! I am sure lots of ladies go to the game when they are pregnant, well a few anyway.

As a footy mad girl nine months is quite a long time to sit at home and not enjoy my beloved football but maybe as close to the wire as I went was clearly a step too far. Only 6 weeks before due date and I was jumping about at The Racecourse, home of Wrexham FC - thankfully they weren't at home. The ground was home to the Welsh cup final and where my story begins.

So the 6th of May, a glorious bank holiday Monday and Prestatyn were facing Bangor City and we had no other plans. In fact the main reason we wanted to go was because my cousin, I have mentioned him before, is manager of Prestatyn Town FC. I didn't honestly think PTFC would do it, I just thought it would be a nice day out and maybe an opportunity to see family. It turned out to be quite an exciting game in actual fact, one I had to endure from a seat in the upper stand (not good when you need a wee every 10 minutes) because apparently being pregnant was not good enough reason to let me sit in the lower stand according to the stewards! I digress. The scoreline ended up 3-1 to the Seasiders with two goals in added time after one of the Bangor players was sent off, it was thrilling! The crowd were in absolute fine singing voice and of course we had to jump up and down to cheer loudly enough for the Bangor fans to get the message Prestatyn were lifting the cup and not the Citizens as had been expected! It was also quite exciting seeing my cousin lift the Welsh Cup (the second oldest national trophy in world football). Needless to say my waters broke the next day!

Now that may have seemed a bit crazy but as anyone who knows me will vouch I don't do things by halves! Three weeks before, exactly to the day, I was jumping up and down in a Conference team's ground, I was at Wrexham's rival's ground, The Exacta stadium, home of fan-owned Chester FC. I will talk more about them as promised soon! They were playing a Boston side who were the only team that season who had managed to beat them home and away and a win that day meant they were being promoted and would join afore mentioned Wrexham FC in the Conference Premier. I have spent many an afternoon and evening stood on the cold hard stone of the Harry McNally stand so thought why not when I'm pregnant. Chester won the game and were to be promoted and like every other promotion I had seen with Chester the fans ran on the pitch and I always joined them, today was to be no different! I was not missing out on the chance to celebrate with my fellow fans and the team no sirey. I was met with a few odd glances but as you can see here my hubby and Chester FC friends just knew it was me.

I had planned my last game before I gave birth to be a game near to my heart (take a read of my previous blogs to find out why) Everton vs Fulham. But obviously the Welsh Cup game meant it was not quite however, it was the last time I would be at Goodison Park for a while. The game which took place on the 27th of April was a 1-0 win with Pienaar the goal scorer. It wasn't quite a jumping up and down, running on the pitch kind of game but I enjoyed it all the same. There were a few games at Goodison of that ilk throughout my pregnancy though so I got my fair share.

My last league game before Fulham came in the shape of Everton vs Manchester City. I am sure most of you remember this game coming after that horrific (there is no other way to describe it) FA Cup game against Wigan, a game I was quite willing to leave early. Honestly I thought I would have been including a pregnant Wembley trip in this blog but it was not to be! Anyway, I wasn't expecting much from this game but low and behold after a goal drought that felt like a life time one of my favourite players that season Mr Jelavic smashed a goal into the back of the net. As a hormonal pregnant lady does I cried! Oh dear lord a lady crying in the Gwladys Street, whatever next? I remember my husband with his arms wrapped round me because everyone was going so wild in the lower stand, jumping all over the place. That wasn't the only excitement of the game with Ossie's wonder goal and Stevie Pienaar being sent off! I was starting to wonder at that point whether I should have been staying at home from then but I think secretly it gave me such a buzz I couldn't stop going!  I did put a link to this game on my Twitter but if you missed it here it is, I enjoyed watching it again: http://www.soccer-blogger.com/2013/03/16/everton-vs-man-city-2013-highlights-2-0-osman-jelavic-goals-pienaar-red-card-video/

Although Everton had a very consistent league campaign, never dropping below seventh place throughout the whole season, there was a league game I attended whilst pregnant that they didn't win. That game came on December 30th 2012 against Chelsea, we had just got back from a week in the Canaries and I didn't actually have a ticket up until a few days before. I assumed (you should never do this apparently) my hubby had sorted it before the holiday but it wasn't the case so I called around and managed to get what I thought was going to be a ticket in the Main Stand. Upon that thinking I bolstered up in Everton merchandise galore, hat, scarf, hoody and jeans, little did I know the ticket was in the Joe Mercer Suite and my seat to be next to what I am assuming (again) were WAGs. I am getting this from their lack of merchandise and designer everything else. So the scoreline was an unfair one I actually thought we played better than them but 1-2 wouldn't agree with me. But I had my own fun. At half time I had to wait for the group of WAGs to disappear before I got out my ham butties wrapped in tin foil and my Aldi crisps i'd been packed off to the match with. I also couldn't hold it in any longer in the second half of the game and ended up joining the fans in the Gwladys Street in song for their rendition of 'you're just a fat Spanish Waiter'. I don't think the young ladies I was sat with were familiar with it as they didn't join me.

As we do every year as a family we all went to the game against Wigan on Boxing Day, not really a thriller but still a 2-1 win. If only we'd saved that result for the quarter final but then I guess our little girl wouldn't have been born on the day our now manager lifted the FA Cup. So the game before that there was to be a thriller! We played Tottenham Hotspur on the 9th of December, a day I bet their travelling fans would much prefer to forget. At half time it didn't look to be a thriller at all even after they netted one it still didn't until 90 minutes on the clock and Steven Pienaar headed one home for the blues to be shortly followed by Jelavic. The Gwladys Street felt like the whole stand was rocking. Thank god that day wasn't a few months later! It still is one of my favourite Everton games I've been to.

Although very early on in my pregnancy there were probably two games worthy of note. The first on the 26th of October, a derby game. As with all derby games I have witnessed first hand at Goodison we drew, 2-2 on this occasion. Now the moment of note came interestingly in the dying moments again when Mr Gerrard fired that free kick goal towards the Gwladys Street. An odd thing to note I guess, but watching him run the length of the pitch to his adoring fans without seeing the linesman waving his flag in the air to disallow Suarez's goal was an absolute joy. I think I enjoyed that as much as waving him off after the derby this season knowing he would never grace our soil ever again (I hope). Also the fact that we went on to finish above them for the second successive season since 1937 was a bonus too.

The other game this time was a defeat in the Capital One Cup away at Leeds. I was excited for this one it was a birthday treat going to an away match but you could sense there was bad feeling in the air even when we arrived. The match was bad enough but in the latter stages of half time one of our own fans threw a flare which landed at my feet. I was so scared I ran as fast as the narrow leg room seats could carry me and hid myself away in the ladies vowing to never go away again, I think from memory I even took my Everton shirt off and stuffed it in my bag. Good job I had no idea I was pregnant at the time.

If you're good with dates you will have worked out already our little girl ended up being born only five days after the Welsh Cup final and five weeks early! If you ever see a pregnant lady at the match jumping up and down you tell her from me it's not advisable! I had a great adventure though and a story I can tell my little girl.