“We didn’t plan this at all,” Mayo said. “Whenever we get time off, things like this happen.”Stamps general manager John Hufnagel gave the team some time off last summer and four of his players used that time “productively.“It was during bye week, stampede time too. So we all partied for a while,” Paredes laughed. “So I guess that’s what happened.”Mitchell’s little girl Ele is due next week.“I think he said he’s going to give us less time off during bye week. He said we’re out doing things we shouldn’t be doing,” Bo Levi Mitchell joked.“Ideally you want to give birth in the offseason because during the season, they’re [players] so busy and you don’t know if they’re going to be at an away game. So it really worked out perfectly,” Madison Mitchell, Bo Levi’s wife, said.Paredes and Mayo are both due on March 28.Paredes revealed he was expecting a baby boy in a fitting way, by kicking a papier-mâché football that exploded into blue dust.
Mayo is waiting until his baby’s birth to find out the sex but either way, he hopes football will be an automatic hobby for him or her.
“Oh, football’s going to be huge in this baby’s life. Whether it’s a cheerleader or another football player,” Mayo said.
A special bond has also been created among the four women carrying those new “starters” for their football-playing partners.
“It’s actually awesome to have people to talk to, that are going through the same things as you and feeling the same way you are,” Janelle Mayo, Deron’s wife, said. “The best is yet to come.”
Janelle actually told Deron the news when he got home from an away game in Winnipeg.
“We get off the charter flight, I come home at two in the morning and I notice one of the lamps is on in the bedroom. So I’m thinking to myself why is the light on? Can Janelle not sleep?,” Mayo said. “So I walk in and there’s baby stuff layed out all across the bed. She surprised me with letters, baby clothing and pictures.”
There’s no playbook for parenthood but a few months of being thrown into it will help the football stars get used to their new role as fathers before the start of training camp.
“Trying to find the nap times at the same time as the baby, I guess,” Mitchell said.
Locker room talk will be different post game for these players now.
“Plenty of baby talk in the locker room this year, so I’m really looking forward to it,” Mayo said.
“I think they’ll have a lot of diaper stories,” Madison Mitchell said.
The Stampeders cheering section will also be a lot louder.
“Yeah, there might be a lot of crying. So we just need to plan the crying around when we’re on defence,” Madison said.
“There will be a lot of (baby) wipes,” Melyssa Aggrey, Paredes’ girlfriend, said. “I think it’s cool that we’re all in it together so we kind of understand when the baby’s wailing.”
Paredes said he now has a family to play for.
“I just can’t wait, after that first game, to hold him with my uniform and take a picture,” he said.
It’s the start of a new chapter at home and on the gridiron.
“Someday Ele will be out there running around, throwing the football and hopefully tackling the boys,” Bo Levi said.
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