A gloomy hush fell over the Queensland Firebirds netball side as their captain Laura Geitz gathered her teammates for a post-match pow-wow.
Most had expected Laura, 28, to announce her retirement after the Firebirds thrilling extra time win against the NSW Swifts in the ANZ Grand Final.
Instead, Laura said she’d been offered the most amazing job opportunity in 2017 that she simply couldn’t turn down.
“I’m going to be a mum,” Laura finally revealed to her stunned teammates, who after a long silence erupted with congratulations, reports The Sunday Telegraph.
Laura told 9News that she and husband Mark Gilbride, 35, are thrilled to become first-time parents.
“We are both just over the moon with the news,” she said.
Laura says she was nine weeks pregnant at the time of the Firebirds dramatic win and sought medical advice before deciding to play.
Resolving to keep her life-changing news a secret until safely through the first trimester, Laura played – and won – three big games in the early stages of pregnancy.
But Laura says falling pregnant in the first place was the biggest miracle of all.
Due to the demands intense training puts on the body, normal cycles are often irregular, or non-existent.
“I’d had one cycle in six months and I remember our team doctor said to me: ‘You have to let your body realise it’s female, it’s not a machine’.
“So we were under the impression there was no chance of me falling pregnant when I was training so hard.”
Due in March, 2017, Laura says she still plans to keep a close eye on the game all through her year on the sideline.
She wants to take on a mentoring or coaching role with Netball Queensland and is hoping to be behind the mic for the Nine Network’s free-to-air broadcasting of the game next year.
