Brentford Women’s Eshe Davies and Rebekah Edwards walked different paths before calling west London home.
And while they were close as team-mates, it was their respective pregnancies that created a bond between the two.
The pair bring a host of experience to Karleigh Osborne’s side; Eshe through a long playing career in England, Rebekah with an athletics and then college football career at Thomas University in Georgia, USA.
While vastly different roads that led to the Bees, the pair happened to embark on their pregnancy journeys at a similar time, giving birth just weeks apart in late 2022 and early 2023.
This carried into sharing their return to the game, with the pair riding the highs and lows that come with returning to sport after giving birth, enduring the physical and mental battles while also enjoying a busy family and work life outside of the club.
For Eshe, having a family with her husband Ryan was always in their plans. However, the striker held doubts over how she could return to football; doubts that increased once she began her return following a caesarean section to welcome daughter Khaleesi into the world.
“Since we got married it was kind of always on the cards, for him he was like, ‘I’m ready whenever’, but for me, obviously, I knew I had to give up a lot to start a family - that’s work and football,” she says.
“When lockdown hit, it made me realise that I was doing way too much and family is really important to me, so that’s when I started to think about it.
“When I was at Watford, I remember chatting with Helen Ward, a mother of two kids, about how you balance it, because I’d never seen women in football have children and play at such a high level and come back to the sport.
“When she did, I thought, ‘Okay, maybe I can actually have a family and still carry on playing.’”
Eshe and Ryan welcomed Khaleesi in December 2022, and she then eventually beginning her road back to playing football.
Having played the game since she was seven years old, which included time at Portsmouth, Watford and QPR, the 27-year-old said she found it difficult being so far off where she was physically before giving birth, however she had some added inspiration.
She explains: “I just remember the first time I stepped on the treadmill and I could barely walk a long distance. I remember running for 30 seconds and I just broke down in tears because I was in so much pain. I thought to myself, ‘I’m never going to be able to run again,'" Eshe admits.
“It’s just a very, very slow process and it’s such a physical battle with your body - but it’s an even bigger battle mentally.
“Mentally, you think, ‘I can just carry on where I left off,' but, physically, you really can’t. So, it’s really hard to try and match your brain’s mindset with your body’s mindset.
“It was very difficult but also exciting because, at the same time, I’m now doing it as a mum and I knew I had a daughter at home that was looking up to me and now has me as her role model - that’s also what drove me to keep going and not give up.”
While always a supporter of Brentford and football, Rebekah’s journey as a player to eventually join Eshe didn’t begin until she was 18, when she signed with Crystal Palace following the 2012 London Olympics.
That led to a scholarship and four-year stint at Thomas University across the pond and, after returning to London, she had a trial and eventually signed for Brentford.
Like Eshe and Ryan, Rebekah and her husband Bradley always envisioned having kids once they were married in 2021, eventually welcoming Elijah in January 2023.
While doubts also entered Rebekah’s mind around her ability to return to the pitch, the 30-year-old said she embraced that she would come back a different player.
“I think I always felt like I was slowly getting there, bit by bit. But there was always going to be a bit of doubt after having a baby,” she says.
“It’s just embracing it and knowing that you’re going to be a different player when you come back and having to adapt your playing style.
“I definitely always knew that I was going to come back, but not in the same way.”
Family and club support was vital for the pair to feel comfortable returning to the game - something Brentford Women general manager Amy Crook and the medical staff made sure to provide.
“After I had Elijah, I wanted to get back into football but didn’t quite know how long it would take and that kind of stuff,” Rebekah explains.
“Obviously Brentford have been super supportive in me returning to play football. Beata [Ostrowska], our strength and conditioning coach, Amy, along with Neil [Greig], head of medical at Brentford, kindly put a little plan together for myself to gradually get me back into fitness and gradually build myself back up.
“Amy also very kindly helped us organise some post-natal physiotherapy sessions, which gave us some insight and showed us the right way to come back and play football.”
The recovery process after giving birth can feel long and slow and, as Rebekah explains, is different for each individual.
Eshe says leaning on those at the club and externally with expertise in post-natal recovery was vital in order to return to the pitch the right way. Having Rebekah there along the way, especially once the pair returned to training, was also key.
“Even though it was frustrating at the time, it’s got me back fit now. I would never have got this far without them because the things you’re not allowed to do after having a baby, I had no idea,” she states.
“I would’ve probably just gone and hurt my body even further, so it was an eye-opener for me that you need to put your body first - as slow as the process might be, it’s so important.
“I think it was my second session back, Beks came back and it’s nice to have someone else in the team that’s had a baby. They understand that pain that you’re going through because it is a completely different toll on your body.
“Also, the process of leaving your child at home to go to training, turning up to training sessions when you’ve not slept and you’ve not eaten properly, but you have someone else there that’s going through the exact same thing, it’s nice to have that person to lean on.”
Now, over a year since giving birth, the pair have enjoyed a return to the pitch in games, earning valuable minutes for Osborne’s side in what is a competitive and deep squad, seeking promotion.
For Eshe, she feels like she is now ready to make a real impact.
“I feel like it’s slowly coming but I am getting there, I’m getting more and more confident with the more minutes I get,” says Eshe.
“I’m now getting to the point where I’ve gone past being cautious, I’m raring to go now, so it’s good to finally get to that point.”
Rebekah added that she felt back to herself following the group's mid-season testing.
“I definitely feel like I’m getting back to myself. I kind of knew that I was feeling back to myself after we had our mid-season testing,” she says.
“Around six months after I gave birth, the levels weren’t too high but, since training regularly and coming back, I’ve managed to improve in every single area.”
Along with training and playing, the pair balance a family life as well as their respective careers - schedules that are jam-packed.
Eshe previously worked at an audio-visual company for 11 years and, since welcoming Khaleesi, has begun running the books and admin for their family plumbing and bathroom business.
Rebekah is a sports coach at a primary school in Richmond, while Bradley is an electrician.
For both of Brentford Women’s sides, training on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday nights followed by a Sunday game day is a busy schedule. Add work and a family to that and it’s go, go, go, all the time.
For Eshe and Rebekah, the support of their families has been crucial in helping them enjoy their love of football.
“Ryan knows I need football so, for him, it’s not even a question. He always makes sure he’s back in time and encouraging me to go, even when I feel tired or I don’t particularly feel up to it,” says Eshe.
“He’s just super supportive because it is a lot to go through in a year and a lot to juggle from day to day.
“I know, mentally, I need football and I can’t see myself not playing football. Being out for as long as I was to have a baby was mentally hard enough, so now being able to go back to training and just be back playing fully, it’s such a good experience.
“I know, mentally, I need that to just keep myself me, I know I’m a mum and I work, but I’m also me, so it’s nice to just do something for myself.”
For Rebekah, football has been a "release" following a busy 18 months.
“Family wise obviously they’ve given me so much support and motivated me. Especially my husband telling me, ‘You’ve still got it’,” says Rebekah.
“I use football as that time for myself, it’s a fantastic way to kind of de-stress if you’ve had a long day at work or if Elijah’s being a bit mischievous.
“Football’s definitely that release now, but still obviously wanting to get promoted.”
Looking to the future, Eshe hopes to provide an example to Khaleesi that she can follow her dreams while having a family.
It’s an example that she didn’t have in the football world growing up, but one she hopes to show going forward.
“For her now, I want to make sure I am that role model and that she does know that it doesn’t matter what she wants to do, that she can still get there no matter what she comes across in life,” Eshe smiles.
“Whether she wants children, it doesn’t mean that her career has to stop or go on hold, or if it does go on hold, it’s only for a time being and that’s to put herself first and her family first - but it doesn’t mean that’s it and you don’t ever go back to it.”
Rebekah feels the same obligation to her pupils, understanding how she is viewed as a role model to them.
“When the Year 6’s found out I’ve got a kid, they were like, ‘You’ve got a kid and you play football?’”, Rebekah laughs.
“There’s nothing that can stop you; if you love something, then just go for it, there’s no harm in trying, if you don’t succeed then you don’t succeed, but it’s all about giving it a try.
“It’s definitely nice to be a role model.”