Demi Stokes: ‘Being quite open and honest, I can help a lot of people’

Demi Stokes is fielding plenty of questions from her England teammates as they prepare for the looming home Euros. “Have you got any updates this morning?”; “How’s he doing?”; and “Can I come round?” are regular ones.

Two months before the tournament, which start next week, Stokes’s partner, Katie Harrington, gave birth to Harlen and so the Manchester City defender is juggling parenthood with preparations for the Euros alongside her son’s new army of aunts. “The girls have been great,” says the 30-year-old. “I think he’s going to be very spoilt with a lot of aunties around. He’s a very lucky boy to have all the people that he has around him.”

Despite the pressures of Stokes being in camp the left-back says “all is good” and she and her partner are “coping”. “The baby is a breath of fresh air at the minute. That’s easy for me to say because I’m only going home every few days, so I’m getting a bit more sleep and stuff, but yes, we’re just enjoying it, enjoying the journey.”

The process of having a baby as a same-sex couple can be long, and it took two years before Harrington was pregnant with Harlen. It is hard for Stokes to remember a time without him.

“When I’m at home I just think: ‘Well, what did we used to do when he wasn’t here?’” she says. “It’s almost like he’s always been here. But we’re just loving it, enjoying it, even the night feeds I’m enjoying. I mean, ask me in six months and I might change that and say ‘bloody hell’, but no, we’re loving it.”

As it is for any professional sportsperson, the speculation on whether Stokes’ and Harrington’s child will go into sport themselves is a frequent topic of conversation. “Everyone keeps saying that. I say he’s got big hands and big feet so I said he could play