San Francisco Giants assistant coach Alyssa Nakken said she has felt nothing but love and support from everyone in the organization since she revealed to them earlier this summer that she and her husband were expecting their first child in February.
But Nakken has also experienced some mental and physical health challenges since her pregnancy began.
Nakken was too ill to join the Giants on a 10-day road trip last month through Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Washington, and Detroit and told the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday that she experienced some gloomy times while being away from the team.
“To be completely honest, there were some dark moments, for sure, because I love being active and on the field and around this team day in and day out, and there was a good stretch of time where I just couldn’t get out of bed,” Nakken told the Chronicle’s Susan Slusser. “I couldn’t really move. I couldn’t keep anything down and I just felt extremely weak.”
Nakken said she stayed at her mom’s home in Woodland for two weeks while her husband was away traveling.
“I tried to stay mentally strong, but there were moments where I just was not the Alyssa Nakken that I or anybody else is used to, but I have an incredible husband and an incredible family that literally took care of me as if I were a young child,” Nakken said. “My mom took me in for two weeks so I could just be home and in my childhood room.”
Nakken is roughly three months along now and her husband, Robert Abel Nakken, announced Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the couple is expecting a girl on Feb. 9. Alyssa Nakken told the Chronicle that she is feeling much better, and is back to her normal duties, although she no longer plays catch or stands by first base during Giants batting practice sessions.
Nakken, hired by the Giants in Jan. 2020 and the first woman to hold a coaching position on a big league staff, also plans to rejoin the Giants on their road trips, including this one through Atlanta and Philadelphia. Robert Nakken will also be on the road with the team for the rest of this season.
Next year after the baby’s due date, the Giants, per the Chronicle, plan to be as flexible as possible with Nakken, who wants to remain in baseball for “a very, very long time, and this phase is just a small piece of what my entire career could be.”
“I don’t believe that what I do should be exactly what every female coach does who comes into this arena,” Nakken said. “But it’s so important to work with and for an organization and with leadership that is ultimately so supportive, and you truly believe that with every ounce of your being.”
Nakken said the first co-worker she told was manager Gabe Kapler, who had known that the couple had wanted to start a family. Kapler and the entire team rejoiced in the news.
“The team found out very early — very, very early, earlier than some of my own family because I spend literally every day with them,” Nakken said. “The night that everybody found out, the players and staff, that’s when you realize you have all the support in the world.”