Dagny Brynjarsdottir stood on the edge of the field and watched her Portland Thorns teammates run through drills on a March afternoon in Beaverton. She cradled her nine-month-old son, Brynjar, in her arms.

Brynjarsdottir had just arrived in Portland and wasn’t supposed to start training with the Thorns for a few more days. But she felt compelled to make a trip out to the training facility to surprise her teammates. She hadn’t seen them for over a year.

The players were thrilled to see her, but perhaps even happier to meet Brynjar.

“I can tell my teammates are excited about my son,” Brynjarsdottir said. “I showed up with him my first day here. Since then, they’ve been asking me every day why he’s not with me. I have to remind them that I’m here to train.”

The Thorns aren’t accustomed to having a baby in tow. Few clubs in the National Women’s Soccer League are. The NWSL Players Association estimates that there are seven players with children currently competing in the nine-team league. Brynjarsdottir (pronounced brin-yas-daughter), forward Jessica McDonald and defender Tina Ellertson are the only mothers who have competed for the Thorns during the club’s seven-year history.

More female professional athletes are finding ways to embrace motherhood without compromising their careers. All-time great Serena Williams made a high-profile return to elite tennis last year following her pregnancy.

But that sea change doesn’t make balancing professional athletics with motherhood any less daunting. Finding that balance can be especially difficult for NWSL players, who get by on only modest salaries and aren’t guaranteed paid maternity leave.

“It’s definitely possible to do both,” Brynjarsdottir said. “But it’s a challenge.”

“A SHOCK”

Brynjar is ready to watch momma today! #BAONPDX pic.twitter.com/808FQeXdzR — Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) March 24, 2019

In October 2017, Brynjarsdottir netted two goals against No. 2 world-ranked Germany to lead the upstart Iceland Women’s National Team to an unexpected 3-2 victory in World Cup qualifying.

A berth to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France suddenly seemed within reach for Iceland, which had never qualified for the tournament. Brynjarsdottir was determined to lead her country to its first World Cup.

That’s when she and her fiancé, Omar Pall, learned that she was pregnant.

“It was a shock for me,” said Brynjarsdottir, 27. “It was not the plan. Iceland had a really good chance to qualify at the time. I still believe that we would have qualified if I had been with them.”

At what felt like a pivotal moment in her career, Brynjarsdottir was forced to step away from competitive soccer.

She watched from afar as Iceland failed to qualify for the World Cup. For months, she couldn’t help but feel upset about the unexpected convergence of momentous events in her life. She decided to throw herself into her training, spending hours in the gym or on the pitch, even though she felt nauseous almost every day. As an elite athlete, she struggled to pull back. In retrospect, Brynjarsdottir, who had to deal with a lingering injury after giving birth, admits that she probably pushed herself too hard during her pregnancy.

But the mixed emotions she had about putting her career on hold for a year melted away when Brynjar was born.

“The pregnancy was tough,” Brynjarsdottir said. “I was sick the whole time, and the first 20 weeks I wasn’t happy about it, but then, obviously, now, I’m super happy. I learned through the whole thing, it’s a blessing.”

RETURNING TO THE FIELD

Game day 💜 pic.twitter.com/ioR3IOgQ3A — Sydney Leroux Dwyer (@sydneyleroux) May 26, 2018

Like Brynjarsdottir, forward Sydney Leroux found out she was pregnant with her son, Cassius, at what felt like a crucial moment in her career. Leroux had just won the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup title with the U.S. Women’s National Team and was already training for the 2016 Olympics. Suddenly, she had to acknowledge that her national team career might be coming to an abrupt end.

But Leroux was still set on returning to the field.

What she didn’t know at the time was how slow that process would be or how much she would need to lean on the support of those around her. Following her pregnancy, Leroux remembers regularly waking up before sunrise to train individually with then-FC Kansas City coach Vlatko Andonovski. He would bring his wife along to the sessions to entertain Cassius while Leroux worked out on the field.

“I definitely feel like my mind worked faster than my body,” Leroux said. “My body couldn’t keep up with what I was used to doing. I think it took a year before I really felt back to myself.”

Leroux made her triumphant return to the field in Kansas City’s home opener in 2017, but she was still learning how to juggle motherhood while re-establishing herself as an elite player. On road trips, she barely slept, waking up to breastfeed Cassius in her hotel room. Midway through the season, her husband, Dom Dwyer, a top forward in Major League Soccer, was traded from Sporting Kansas City to Orlando City SC. For the rest of the year, Leroux had no choice but to manage as a single mother.

Over the last few years, Leroux has fielded questions from interested teammates about how she has balanced motherhood with her career. She talks about the immense joy that she feels to be Cassius’ mom, but is careful not to sugarcoat things.

“I tell some of my friends to maybe wait until your career is done because it is hard, it’s difficult,” Leroux said. “You have to weigh the pros and cons. Having my family is the best thing that I’ve ever done in my life. Whether my career takes off or doesn’t, this is the best thing I can ever win.”

“A LOT OF QUESTION MARKS”

Amy Rodriguez knelt down on the pitch at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada, and pulled her son, Ryan, into a tight embrace with her right arm. In her left hand, she clutched the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup trophy.

Fewer than two years after giving birth, Rodriguez had not only returned to the pinnacle of her profession, but also helped the USA win its first World Cup since 1999.

“There are a lot of question marks after having a child,” Rodriguez said. “I wasn’t sure whether it was possible to return to the player that I once was, but I just wanted to work as hard as I could and give it my best shot. To make that World Cup roster after having a baby was obviously quite the challenge.”

Rodriguez was already a mainstay with the national team and had just helped lead the USA to a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics when she and her husband, Adam Schilling, found out that she was pregnant. With two years to spare before the next World Cup, Rodriguez didn’t have to rule out the possibility of representing the U.S. on the world stage again.

Still, in the months after Ryan’s birth, Rodriguez had to remember to give herself slack as she tried to regain her form. She wanted to get back to the pitch as soon as possible, but knew she had to listen to her body. She didn’t start playing competitive soccer again until four months after her pregnancy and didn’t feel back to her old self until nearly nine months after giving birth.

Rodriguez was able to take the time she needed to regain her form thanks in large part to the support she received from U.S. Soccer. That show of support was again crucial when she gave birth to her second son, Luke, in 2016.

The collective bargaining agreement between U.S. Soccer and the U.S. Women’s National Team previously stipulated that pregnant players would receive 50 percent of their salaries while on maternity leave. That percentage has increased under the new CBA. After returning from maternity leave, those players also return to the national team player pool for three months, which gives them an opportunity to earn their spot back.

Rodriguez, of course, did more than just win back her spot. She became one of just 23 players on the World Cup-winning team.

“I was very fortunate that I had a very long stint with the national team and was able to get the financial support that I needed and the patience from my employer,” said Rodriguez, who currently competes for the Utah Royals in the NWSL. “I don’t know if the NWSL provides that to its players right now. It would be a little bit scary to be a young player in the NWSL and go through a pregnancy under an NWSL contract.”

“SCRAPING PENNIES”

The sky is not the only limit for you when there’s a sun and a moon, son. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for you. I am so blessed to have a son like you. 💪🏽🙌🏽💙 #Jeremiah pic.twitter.com/mfo1oRpFjy — Jessica McDonald (@J_Mac1422) September 10, 2018

Unlike U.S. Women’s National Team players, NWSL players don’t currently have a collective bargaining agreement with the league and do not receive compulsory support from their clubs to help offset the challenges of pregnancy and motherhood.

The NWSL Players Association, which was officially recognized by the league last fall, said in an email that maternity leave and support for mothers would be a component of any future CBA. While the NWSL does not currently have a formal maternity leave policy, players that become pregnant do have their contracts honored. But that support only goes so far, given the modest salaries in the league and the reality that a player’s contract could expire while she was pregnant. NWSL players currently earn between $16,538 and $46,200 per season.

Leroux was with the national team during her first pregnancy and was able to take advantage of U.S. Soccer’s paid maternity leave policy, while Brynjarsdottir has had the full support this season of her fiancé, who was able to take six months off from work to move to Portland due to progressive paternity leave laws in Iceland.

McDonald, who currently competes for the powerhouse North Carolina Courage, didn’t enjoy that type of support during her first years in the NWSL.

McDonald gave birth to her son, Jeremiah, in 2012, the same year that Women’s Professional Soccer folded. Without a top-flight league in the United States, McDonald figured that her professional soccer career was over. But when she learned about the formation of the NWSL, which started play in 2013, she immediately set her sights on returning to the game.

It took some time for McDonald to get back into shape after her pregnancy, but she said the process of regaining her form wasn’t nearly as stressful as the challenge of trying to care for an infant while competing in the NWSL.

When McDonald moved with Jeremiah to Chicago to play for the Red Stars in 2013, her husband, Courtney Stuart, remained in Arizona. Without a support system in Chicago, McDonald found herself struggling to find a babysitter during training sessions. She was earning a meager $13,000 a year, making daycare nearly impossible to afford. McDonald was often left with no choice but to bring Jeremiah to her training sessions. He would sit in a stroller on the sideline as she practiced.

“If anything as simple as child care was covered by the league or your organization, that would be life-changing for moms, especially when we’re scraping pennies,” McDonald said. “Maybe we would have more moms in this league if something like that was there for us, but I feel like we’re far from that. The situation is way different for us than it is for male athletes and it would be nice to have better support from our league in that area.”

McDonald remembers one training session early in her NWSL career where Jeremiah needed his mom multiple times throughout the practice. She kept running to the sideline to set up a show on Netflix, feed him a snack or take him to the bathroom. She could see the mounting frustration on her coach’s face when she returned to the field.

That was one of many days when she found herself considering whether it was time to hang up her boots. It’s fortunate that she didn’t.

Six years after entering the NWSL, McDonald has developed into one of the most dynamic forwards in the league and has two championship titles under her belt. Her performance earned her a spot in the U.S. Women’s National Team mix in 2016.

On May 2, she was named to the USA’s 23-player roster for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

“Those first two years were just so hard,” said McDonald about her first years in the NWSL. “I had already signed a contract, so I just had to suck it up. There were days when I would just go home and cry because it was that hard, but I didn’t want to give up just because things got hard, just because I was a mom. My parents gave up on their dreams in sports because they were athletes and they had me at such an early age. I didn’t want to do that.”

EXPECTING AGAIN

I didn’t think I’d be starting off preseason 5.5 months pregnant but here we are. 😂 pic.twitter.com/smuA4nFx9n — Sydney Leroux Dwyer (@sydneyleroux) March 4, 2019

In early March, Leroux took the field with the rest of her Orlando Pride teammates at the start of preseason training camp. She was nearly six months pregnant.

After being traded to the Pride in 2018 and being reunited with her husband in Orlando, Leroux decided she was ready to have another child. It was a decision that would lead to the hardest year of her life. Late last year, she stepped away from her team for what was officially listed as illness. In actuality, Leroux had suffered a miscarriage.

“It was probably the worst time of my life,” Leroux said. “My team was really amazing. I had to let them know what was going on and they were so supportive. You don’t feel so alone when people know what’s going on.”

The tragedy of losing a child doesn’t go away, but life keeps moving forward. Leroux and Dwyer announced in December that they were once again expecting.

Even as she prepares to welcome her second child, Leroux remains as committed as ever to continuing her career, just like the other six mothers in the NWSL. That’s what persuaded her to return to training with the Pride in preseason, albeit in a restricted capacity. She continued to practice with the club this spring while she could still be mobile in hopes of returning to the field before the end of the NWSL season in October.

Someday, she will be able to tell her soon-to-be-born daughter that she never stopped chasing her dream.

“I think anything that’s worth it is going to be hard,” Leroux said. “I didn’t really know how hard it was going to be until Cassius came into our lives, but the experience of having my son watch me and his dad play is amazing. Doing the same thing with a little girl, just makes me even more excited. I can show her that her mom did this. I can tell her that her mom played soccer when she was in her belly.”

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg

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