AFL star Kate Sheahan opens up about her "horrid" childbirth experience.

Kate Sheahan might be a professional athlete, but that doesn’t mean she’s immune to one of the most raw, human and painful experiences a woman can have: childbirth.

“As a young lady I was always really scared of childbirth because it’s the unknown,” Sheahan told Holly Wainwright during her interview on Mamamia’s podcast I Don’t Know How She Does It. 

“You just don’t know what’s going to happen. And you can’t control it. And most athletes love being in control,” Sheahan said.

Six years ago, the AFL player fell pregnant and couldn’t wait to welcome her baby into the world.

Having always been an athlete, she was used to being “fit and active” and all of a sudden that changed.

Kate Sheahan speaks to Holly Wainwright on IDKHSDI about going to back to work only three days after giving birth. Post continues below. 

“My boobs got bigger, they hurt,” she said. Sheahan had suffered a back injury in her younger years, and her baby sat in the spot that was damaged.

At times, she said, “I found it incredibly frustrating.”

The birth itself she describes as “horrid”.

“It was really bad, there were lots of complications. I gave birth naturally, but at the last minute we potentially had to have a caesarean because Will had grown so much. I was 10 days over, I had to be induced, and he just simply wasn’t ready to come out.

But I think the doctors didn’t think he’d be that big… and it was, it was terrifying.”

What an outstanding day. Excellent work Doggies ????????. Now bring on @aflwomens ????‍♀️????@CollingwoodFC @JudeDonnelly pic.twitter.com/mzcy1r2LIm

— Kate Sheahan (@KateSheahan1) October 1, 2016

Sheahan felt “powerless” but says that the mental resilience she had developed during her sporting years meant that she always had a sense that things would end up okay.

“It was scary, but I was going to be okay,” she said “and I knew at the end I was going to have my baby and that’s all we really wanted.”

Sheahan now has beautiful six-year-old Will, and couldn’t be happier.

She has been signed with Collingwood’s women’s AFL team ahead of the launch of the inaugural National Women’s League in 2017.

You can listen to the full episode of IDKHSDI with Kate Sheahan here. 

Check out all our podcasts and more at apple.co/mamamia