Bella Bixby entered Snapdragon Stadium Saturday night the same way she has entered every stadium for weeks — not just as Portland Thorns’ starting goalkeeper but also mom to toddler Ruby, who was perched happily between her right arm and hip.
For the 29-year-old, the 2025 NWSL season has been more than just returning to the field after the offseason. It has been a balancing act between being an elite athlete and a new mother — a transformation she does not sugarcoat.
“It changes your body,” she tells The Athletic. “I think I underestimated how much pregnancy was gonna change my body.”
Planning for a family was not a simple process for Bixby, especially with limited guarantees in her sport. That uncertainty lingered through the entire 2023 season, even before she started trying to get pregnant. After 14 years with her husband, Elliot, she knew it was time, but making the decision was hard. Her teammate Crystal Dunn just returned to play after having her son, Marcel. Another former teammate, Iceland’s Dagny Brindisdóttir, who had a son at the time, was also able to come back to the team.
Despite these role models, she was still unsure. “I was anxious about what it might mean for my career,” she explains. “Will I come back? Can I even do it? Is this going to…
