“There were a few jokes among the team that my amniotic fluid might burst on the podium,” says Jodie Greenham, an archer competing for Great Britain at this month's Paralympics. “That would be amazing.”
Greenham said: Athletic Joining by video call from a training camp in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, west of Paris, she will be seven months pregnant when she takes her first shot in the compound archery event at Les Invalides on Thursday, and believes she will be the first Paralympic athlete to compete so late in pregnancy.
“I will be achieving something that I can't say anyone else has achieved,” Greenham said, “I will be competing and competing at the Paralympics while seven months pregnant.”
“(But) I'm not doing it to make a statement, I'm doing it for myself. And if it's enough to make people say, 'Why can't you do it?' then that's great.”
Greenham, who is also mother to son Christian, due in October 2022, has been juggling caring for her young child, training at home and dealing with the side effects of pregnancy. The 31-year-old won silver in the mixed team event with John Stubbs at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and has been adjusting her training and technique to get back on the podium. According to the British Paralympic Association, the mixed team event is for athletes with “mild upper or lower limb impairments”.
Ms Greenham explains that she has “no fingers, only half a thumb” and was born with brachydactyly, which means “unequal length arms and underdeveloped shoulders on the left side down to the left torso and left hip”. She and her partner Christopher have had three miscarriages, which makes her keenly aware of the danger and importance of pregnancy.
“We decided we weren't going to let the Olympics stop us from expanding our family,” Greenham said. “We didn't know if we'd be able to have another child. We might not be able to do it again. Pregnancy isn't as easy as people make it out to be. It's not that simple.”
Greenham gave birth to her son, Christian, prematurely at 28 weeks pregnant.
“I was very unwell throughout my pregnancy and it just got worse and worse,” she said. “I was on bed rest at 16 weeks. After Christian was born he was in an incubator with severe jaundice and almost needed a blood transfusion. For the first 10 days I couldn't hold him and he was in a little box with little light. It was really sad.”
This time, doctors weren't sure whether Greenham's left side would be able to support the baby's weight, and they thought a tendency for it to collapse was part of the reason she couldn't carry the pregnancy to term. “It's the same situation again,” she said. “We don't know.”
Because it was highly likely that Archer would give birth in Paris, Greenham and her team researched the nearest maternity wards and hospitals, what to do if the baby was born in France, and the process for obtaining a birth certificate.
“We have every back-up plan you can imagine,” she said, mulling over the possibility of having a baby and then returning to individual Paralympic competition. “We'll see what happens,” she smiled.
But Greenham's outlook is as bright as her pink hair.
Greenham says Athletic Charlotte Harper
“After I sadly lost the last of my hair earlier this year, my partner said, 'You've always wanted to do this, why don't you go for it,'” she says of her fuchsia-colored locks.
“I knew that if I had the same problems as my last pregnancy, I might not be able to compete in this Olympics. I decided that I wanted to have a family and a career and I wanted to balance both.”
“If I can't do it medically, then I can't do it. I have the luxury of going to LA (2028 Olympics) and Brisbane (2032). I may never get the chance to have a child again. I'm not going to regret a single missed kick or arrow. I'm going to stay here and be the happy athlete mom I know I'm meant to be.”
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“When you're carrying a baby, your weight is so high in the front of your body that you sway and lose your balance,” said Greenham, who had to change her shooting technique. “It was the weirdest training session of my life, but it was fun.”
Adjustments have also been made to the bow's stabilisers to help Paralympians feel stronger and more planted on the ground with their feet, and she thanks her mother and former Olympic archer coach Charlotte Burgess, the British Paralympic Association and Archery GB for their support.
Greenham has to wear larger clothes to cover her belly, but that leaves excess fabric near her shoulders that can get caught on the string. She now wears underarm guards to collect the excess fabric. She's moved her quiver belt lower, influenced the way she holds her bow by lifting it to her side and is using video analysis to make sure nothing gets in the way of her shot.
Greenham and John Stubbs compete in Rio (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images)
But as her pregnancy progresses, her training is subject to ever-changing conditions. Last week, Greenham noticed that her baby had shifted lower in her pelvis, which, combined with the pulling force of her pelvis, was causing discomfort. By lying on her back on a physical therapy bed, Greenham can gently tilt her pelvis to keep the baby from being so low. But she can't do that while competing.
“If it works, great. If it doesn't, you just keep going,” she says matter-of-factly.
Greenham and Burgess also devised “pregnancy preparation sessions”: while Greenham trains in a full draw position, for example, her coach stimulates slight movements that mimic a baby's kicks and tickles her sides to simulate the sensation of flapping wings.
But when she is under the most intense pressure and takes aim at the 80cm target from 50 metres away, with that crucial shot that could make the difference in winning a medal, her baby might decide to join in.
“I've felt really strong kicks right before I was about to shoot, and I just think, 'It's OK, Mommy knows you're there,'” she said. “I don't get annoyed or upset. They don't know what's going on.”
“I made the decision: What if I went to the Olympics and made it to the gold medal final and my baby kicked me and I missed out on the gold medal? What did I expect? I knew the risks.”
Although Greenham doesn't experience the “horrible” loss of appetite she experienced while pregnant with her son, her sense of smell has become heightened – even the slightest smell makes her nauseous – she's craving smaller and more frequent snacks instead of three meals a day, she's struggling to keep her temperature and hydration up, and her baby is putting pressure on her bladder, meaning she's making more trips to the bathroom.
Greenham's midwife and consultant team have advised her from a maternal perspective, and the sports medicine team from an athletic perspective, but as with many sports, there is no one who specialises in athletes' pregnancies. She recalls that when she was pregnant with Christian, doctors advised her to refrain from training, but she urged the sports medicine team, as they would know more. But sports teams were uneasy about pushing her to refrain from training when doctors had recommended it. Making the right decision was very difficult for Greenham.
“It would always be good to have experts who know both,” she says, “but there hasn't been a need for them. Only very recently has it become more acceptable for athletes to become pregnant and mothers. Hopefully more pregnant women will know they can continue to train and compete.”
Greenham's partner Christopher (“the most understanding man in the whole wide world,” as she puts it) and son Christian will not travel to Paris but will watch from home – a decision made just a few weeks ago. Although they had a test, with Christian watching his mother play during the domestic tournaments this winter, this has become more difficult as their young son becomes more expressive.
“My son doesn't really understand that if he sees his mommy, he can't spend time with her,” Greenham says. “He gets really angry. You can't explain to a one-year-old that he can't see his mommy because she's working. There's no way I can comfort him when we're in the middle of filming.”
“It's hard. I'm programmed to listen to babies cry. I wear my athlete hat, but I'm also a mother. It's very hard to forget that. For now, it's easier to stay in athlete mode.”
With Christian settled in at home and knowing he can video call his family whenever he needs to, Greenham is fully focused on the task at hand.
“Pregnancy aside, I believe I can win a medal,” she said. “I'm giving it my best shot ever. I feel like I have more experience than I've ever had. I want to win a medal.”
“If I compete and have a happy, healthy baby in November then that will be a complete success. I will have achieved what I wanted out of these Olympics and this pregnancy. I'm here, I'm having fun and at the end I'll have a prize, whether it's a medal or something. That's what I want – to have a baby.”
(Top photo: Greenham in October 2016. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
