HM: An upcoming World Cup is almost here?

KG: Incredible, isn’t it! It’s strange the girls are in camp at the moment, and I’m still in Sweden. The overriding emotion is simply just excitement, I think, as a lot of us know how much belief we as players have in this team. There’s not too many nerves; it’s more just excitement to get started.

HM: What were your dreams as a kid? When did you know you wanted to be a Matilda?

KG: I didn’t know too much about the Matildas when I was growing up as there wasn’t as much TV coverage when I was young. As they say, “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” But since the professional league started in Australia, and I understood and saw the pathways a bit more, I knew that I wanted to represent Australia. That became the focus.

HM: A World Cup at home, as a mum, with the little one watching.

KG: Cool, huh! It’s been amazing. Harper will be there somewhere, I’m sure!

HM: She is an IVF miracle. You and I owe a lot to the brilliance of the IVF specialists around the world. How was your IVF journey?

KG: How incredible are they all! In early 2020, I chose to undergo the IVF in Norway. I always wanted to do it over in Europe. The sperm donor pool is much bigger over there, which helps. I was playing in Norway at the time.

HM: For Avaldsnes, but injured at the time?

KG: Yes, injured so I decided to get going with it. As you know, you begin weeks of hormone injections to prepare the body for the transfer of the embryo. Then, when it is time to do the transfer, you have to do it, pronto – you can’t pick and choose. No lingering!

HM: When was the transfer?

KG: Literally half an hour before my flight back to Australia, just when I was returning home after the Danish season ended. They did the transfer of the embryo, and then I went to the airport.

HM: Half an hour!

KG Yep. Without a word of a lie, I was sitting on a flight and had my legs crossed, scared that maybe it would fall out! Then I had 14 days of quarantine when I landed.

HM: And the “congratulations, you’re pregnant” red line came up in quarantine! Lonely celebrations. Did you know the sperm donor?

KG: Not many to celebrate with. Plenty of happy tears though. No, I didn’t know and still don’t know. In Norway, you tell them the main characteristics you want, and then they go out and choose your match for you, but you never really find out who the father is.

I painted my belly and tried a belly dance but still nothing

HM: Is it easier or harder for you not to know?

KG: It’s a good question. With the baby, I really had no expectations, as long as he or she was going to be healthy. Knowing nothing of the father, I didn’t know what the father was good at or what his personality was like or what he looked like, so it’s hard to know what might arrive. But I was I feel really comfortable with it all. At the end of the day, it’s my baby and it’s the way I bring her up that is important. So, you don’t go out and find the partner off a menu and pick the pieces of the genetic puzzle by their looks and how good they are at things, but it is all good with me. It has worked out well.

HM: Harper arrived in August 2021, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing?

KG: It was not. Childbirth was not what I expected. While I was pregnant, I did as much research as I could. I listened to a lot of podcasts. I did hypno-birthing classes. I spoke to my mum and my sister about their experiences. So I had a pretty clear idea of how I wanted everything to happen. The plan was to have my baby naturally and I didn’t want any drugs.

HM: Is that how it happened?

KG: No — it went the completely the opposite way. My waters broke on Friday the 13th of August, my 29th birthday. I was so excited, but nothing happened. On Saturday, I started having contractions and my back was sore. I painted my belly and tried a belly dance but still nothing.

HM: Odd belly dancing didn’t work!

KG: Exactly. On Sunday, I went to the Mater Mothers’ Hospital and was induced that afternoon. I didn’t want that to happen because it changes your labour. And then Harper – who had been in a good position for my whole pregnancy – decided to turn and was “OP”, which means her spine was on my spine.

HM: Uncomfortable?

KG: The pain in my back was like nothing I’d experienced before. They gave me a morphine shot, but it didn’t do much. Then came the water shots, which is four needles in your back to take the pain away. They were excruciating at first, but they gave me some relief. Two hours later, the drugs had worn off, and the pain returned. I asked for another morphine shot. It had been 12 hours, and I was still in pain even after they gave me an epidural. All my expectations for pregnancy were now out of the window – I’d gone from not wanting any drugs to having the lot!

HM: This story has a good end, doesn’t it …

KG: It does. Another three hours passed and I was actually watching an NWSL game on my phone when I realised Harper was finally ready to come out. The doctors started to get worried, because my temperature was spiking and Harper was still in there, falling asleep during the contractions. I was lucky to have such a good obstetrician who knew I didn’t want a C-section. I remember her looking at me and saying; “I believe in you, we’re going to push this baby out.” Eventually, after another three hours of pushing, I was able to deliver Harper myself. I reached down, pulled her up and held her close.

It’s been amazing and changed the sport

HM: Well done. Another healthy little miracle. A rest, and then, back to football. Has it been hard for you to juggle as a single mother?

KG: Yes, it has, but it’s been awesome. I used to have a pretty set game routine, but now it’s changing nappies and making sure Harper is fully fed and happy – so it’s a change, but it’s been amazing and changed the sport for me for sure.

HM: In what way?

KG: It’s changed my whole perspective on life, to be honest. Motherhood made me reflect on my career, and why I play the game.

HM: What was the answer?

KG: Because I love it. Because I absolutely love it. I fell back in love with the game after I had my daughter.

HM: Is it harder than you thought?

KG: There are challenges along the way for sure, especially now that she is a toddler, and a very demanding one. But it’s a beautiful time to bring her up. She gets to be around the national team, and the clubs that I play at. They have all just been absolutely amazing. They are her extended family. What a miracle she is.

HM: Your mum was integral.

KG: There are a lot of people that make it all possible. Mum (Linda) has done a lot of laps with Harper in the pram, around and around the ground, and watches on as we train. You need a good support crew and I was lucky to have plenty who helped.

HM: What was hardest about returning to train and get back into the Australian team?

KG: I think being an athlete, it’s always hard to see your body change so quickly. But I really enjoyed feeling my baby grow with me … It was hard to stop all the training, but it was all worth it.

HM: You’ve battled with body image for a while, haven’t you?

KG: I have. I went through a pretty tough couple of years with body image. I think, not just for the younger generation, social media is seriously cruel.

HM: Brutal.

KG: Amazing in many ways, but so brutal in others. I think we are seeing that in the younger generation. It’s so easy for people to say nasty things on social media and younger people are really struggling with it. It crosses my mind so often: what kind of world are we bringing our kids up in, and how is it going to look in 10 years’ time when my daughter has a phone in her hand.

HM: Do you still get affected by it?

KG: Yeah, I do. You try to maintain an image and I’m on social as an athlete, but it’s a roller coaster as you’re always comparing yourself to others. I found myself in a really, really, really dark place for three years, and my football took a hit when I was going through that period. It wasn’t until just before I got pregnant when I started to change my habits, and started to speak about it, and actually get help. I think looking back now I feel like I was a completely different person. For me, pregnancy changed how much I appreciate my body. But reflecting on that time, I really realise how many people – and not just athletes – go through it and a massive driver is social media.

It really does play in your mind

HM: You made yourself suffer with your body, didn’t you?

KG: For a while there, I put my body through hell. And for it to give me life like it did my daughter, I just didn’t realise how amazing it was, regardless of what I thought it looked like. Now I think it’s something pretty incredible. It’s really made me really change the way I think about food and the way I look at my body. I’ve never really thought I had issues with the way I looked or my body or nutrition or anything like that, but as I got older, it became more prominent.

HM: How?

KG: We now get density scans, we get body fat testing all the time, and it really does play in your mind when you know that you have to weigh in and weigh out. You start reading into the numbers on the scale, instead of your performance on the field. As I got older, I started to realise that maybe I did have issues around all of that. And when you try and change so many things, your body starts to change in different ways. I found that a lot. It really hit me for about two years. Being an athlete, you feel like you can get through it by yourself, that you’re strong enough. I felt like that for the first nine months or so, I was like, “No, I’m OK, I’m going to get through it, it’s fine”.

HM: But you weren’t?

KG: No. The months tick on and you’re still in a pretty bad place – or you’re even worse than what you were a couple months before. When I look back now, I really don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t started speaking about it.

HM: Talking helped?

KG: Critical. I started talking to a psychologist who was really helpful at the time – that was through the Matildas. Then I started speaking to my family about it, which I think was really important. Knowing that you have that support and knowing that other people have gone through it, I think it makes you feel more comfortable, knowing that you can get through it and you have that support around you. Working closely with a dietitian, not counting your calories or having a food plan, and being really flexible around it helped. I stopped labelling foods as “good” and “bad”. When you stop doing that, and start realising the energy that foods give you, you know more about nutrition and what it’s actually doing to your body.

HM: You OK now?

KG: Humans are going to fluctuate. Women are going to fluctuate, if they have their period or not. I don’t think we know enough about why we fluctuate but now we’re getting the support and knowledge we need. After I started speaking about it, it was a huge weight that had lifted from my shoulders. Knowing that so many athletes do go through things like this – we have so much pressure on us to live a certain way and for our bodies to be a certain way, to be in peak condition all the time. If you’re in and around that kind of sport for 10-plus years, it does eventually take its toll.

HM: How has Harper helped you with your football?

KG: Perspective. I think having a toddler around me, I do put a loss behind me pretty quickly, and that is what has changed massively for me. I would stew over a training session or a game for days, and now I can’t do that at all. I take what I can out of the game. I try to fix the mistakes I made, and learn from them. But in a tournament, I make sure I move on quickly and focus on the next game. But hopefully there are not too many losses. And to have my daughter, and my family on the sideline – I mean, it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

HM: One piece of advice for young Aussie athletes?

KG: If you love a game, go for it. In any sport you can make some beautiful memories. If you can make a career out of it, there’s no better career in the world, I don’t think. Travelling the world and sharing memories with your best friends and your family, it’s definitely pretty special.

HM: Thanks for chatting, and good luck with the World Cup campaign.

KG: Thanks – it’ll be a privilege to wear the green and gold, and we will all be trying very hard.

Lite n’ Easy are proudly supporting National Australian Footballer Katrina Gorry as part of their Fuelling Women in Sport initiative. Lite n’ Easy’s Fuelling Women in Sport initiative is helping improve female athletes’ barriers by eliminating meal preparation time and putting their health and wellbeing first.