Back to us | Alexia Putellas

Open your eyes.

The last couple of months had been hard, Isy's morning sickness had been pretty much constant, a day hadn't gone by without her being sick, whether that was morning, afternoon, or in the middle of the night. I had been busy with recovering from the surgery and starting the rehab program that I had been given by the team physios which meant that I had to be at the training ground almost every day.

We were both exhausted, I was trying to look after Isy as much as I could while still rehabbing, desperate to get fit again as soon as possible and Isy was trying to be there for me through my injury while also growing our baby and being sick multiple times a day. She had barely left the house over the last few weeks, spending most of her time either on the bathroom floor or cuddled up on the sofa with Nala who barely left her side now that she was pregnant.

I felt guilty almost every day, I felt guilty about getting injured at the same time we were starting our family, I felt guilty that I wasn't home as much as I wanted to be to look after her, I wasn't there to hold her hair back or bring her water after she had thrown up, I wasn't there to hold her as she napped, or rub her stomach when she felt nauseous. It wasn't what I had expected our first trimester to be like, I had imagined being there every step of the way, but this injury had gotten in the way of all of that and instead, I was stuck in the gym or on the physio table getting treatment.

"Ale... what's going on?" Maria asked harshly, barging into the medical room where I had just finished getting my knee strapped up, sitting down on the bench next to me

"What do you mean?" I quickly replied as I slipped my trainers back onto my feet.

"With Isy? With you? You aren't yourself Ale and I thought that it was just because of your injury or Isy's mystery illness, but there is something else. Isy has been ignoring my texts for weeks and you barely talk to anyone when you're here. What is going on? Are you two ok?" She continued, the concern clear in her voice.

"We're fine Mapi" I brushed it off, I wanted to tell her about the pregnancy, but Isy and I had decided to keep it to just us and our families until we were out of the first trimester.

"Please talk to me Ale" Mapi spoke softly, resting her hand on top of mine and looking directly into my eyes.

"I'm worried about you two, somethings wrong... please just talk to me Ale"

...

"Isy isn't ill... well she is, but not in a bad way"

"I don't understand, what do you mean not in a bad way? How can you be ill in a good way... you're talking in riddles Ale"

I need to tell her.

"Sh-she's pregnant... Isy is pregnant" I spoke quietly, nervous about saying that out loud for the first time to someone who wasn't family.

"What!?" She shouted, standing up from the bench and jumping up and down with excitement.

"Shhh... you can't tell anyone! Nobody knows except from Alba and our parents and we'd like to keep it that way for a while longer"

"Ok- ok... how is she? Is she okay?" She asked as she settled back down next to me.

"She's sick, really sick and I'm trying to help her, but I have to be here every day and I can't be there with her. She needs me and I'm just letting her down..."

All of the emotions of the last few months came flooding out in the form of tears. I tried desperately to hide them by wiping them from my cheeks as soon as they appeared, but it didn't work. Mapi comforted me as much as she could, calming me down until the tears stopped, pulling me into a hug and holding me tight.

I felt relieved that I had told Mapi, she was one of my best friends and I knew that I could talk to her about it now. I knew that this was a secret that she would keep, as she always did when it came to Isy and me, she was the person that I trusted the most with stuff like this and the fact that she now knew about the pregnancy meant that we had someone else there to help us both through all of this.

I headed home straight after our conversation, desperate to see my wife after spending the afternoon away from her, I climbed into the car and drove home as quickly as I could. The house was dark when I walked through the front door, the soft muffled sounds of the TV were the only evidence that anyone was home. Nala used to meet me at the door whenever I arrived home, but not anymore, she couldn't leave Isy and I didn't mind at all, at least she had someone with her while I was out. I walked into the living room and was met by the sight of Isy curled up under a blanket on the sofa with Nala whose head was resting against her stomach, both of them fast asleep. I slowly made my way towards them, leaning down to place a kiss on her forehead before heading upstairs to take a shower.

Isy was awake when I came back downstairs, sitting up on the sofa with the blanket lying across her lap, she looked better than she had in days, there was some color in her cheeks as she smiled up at me.

"How long have you been back?"

"About an hour, I didn't want to wake you. How are you feeling?" I asked as I sat down next to her on the sofa.

"Close your eyes" She instructed as her deep chocolate eyes stared directly into mine.

"Why?"

"Just close them, I've got something I want to show you"

"Then why am I closing my eyes?"

"Just do it, Ale. I promise it will be worth it" She smiled as she sent me a pleading look.

I did as she asked and closed my eyes, waiting for instruction from her as to when I could open them again. As I sat in the darkness behind my eyelids I could feel her fidgeting on the sofa next to me.

"You can open your eyes now"

and I did...

The sight in front of me was something that we had both been waiting for for the last few weeks. Isy was sitting, the blanket that was laying across her was now pulled down and her t-shirt was pulled up exposing her stomach, which was now a bump.

She had started showing.

"Someone wanted to say hi" She smiled, the biggest smile I had seen since we found out about the pregnancy as she rubbed circles on her fresh bump with her left hand.

I stared at her in silence for a few moments, taking in every inch of my pregnant wife... she was glowing and I had never been more in love with her than I was right now.

"Wow, you are perfect" I smiled at her for a moment, leaning in to place a soft kiss on her lips before moving down towards her stomach.

"Hi little one, I can't wait to meet you, but you need to stop making your Mami so sick, ok?" I mumbled against her skin, kissing just above her belly button before sitting up and pulling her into my arms.

"Why does this suddenly feel so much more real than it did yesterday?" I asked honestly, laughing slightly as I rested my hand on her bump, taking this moment into memory.

"I think it's because we can actually see our little baby growing in there now... I didn't really feel pregnant until today, all of the sickness felt like it was for nothing, but our baby is in there... we're going to be parents in about 6 months Ale and I'm sort of terrified" She said, her hand resting on top of mine.

"Me too... absolutely terrified, but also unbelievably excited"