- It feels unreal.
I don't think I got it yet.
Partly that we are going to have children, but also that there are two.
It feels difficult to take in, but it is something that both me and my partner have been waiting for and longing for, says Melissa Petrén to SVT Sport.
Petrén and partner Josip Cavar, goalkeeper in Danish Holstebro, are expected to become parents in August.
Mittnian played his last match with the club team Viborg at the end of January but continues to train with the team.
- I participate in the warm-up, fit, shoot and warm up the goalkeeper, but then I do my own training.
I'm not there when it's contact.
Then I'll see how long I can go on like that.
Counting out the home World Cup
The 28-year-old is counting off the WC at home at the end of the year.
- It is not priority one in my head.
With children, there is so much else in the beginning and then I don't know how long it will take before I can start training again.
Home championships would have been so much fun, but it feels far away.
However, the plan is to return to elite handball.
- Absolutely.
The idea is really to come back.
There are many in the national team who actually got better after they had children and came back, so in that way I look at it in a positive light.
No new club ready
To the Olympics in Paris 2024?
- It would have been awesome.
But right now the focus is on these children and being able to come back after the birth in good order.
The contract with Viborg expires this summer and at the moment Petrén does not have a new club ready.
However, she knows that she will remain in Denmark for a while longer.
- My partner has one year left there, so we will live in Denmark for at least another 1.5 years.
Then we'll see, we're not closing the door to other countries, says Petrén, who admits that it's not optimal to be without a new club when she's expecting a child.
- It is clear that it would have been nice to have a contract and be sure on that front.
But I have to take it as it comes.