For those who follow the Olympics, track and field champion Allyson Felix is known for her warrior spirit and relentless fire. Over the course of her career, Felix has achieved monumental success as a female Olympian. Allyson has received three Olympic medals, including two gold medals and one silver, for her athletic prowess. In addition, the athlete has also received a record-shattering amount of IAAF World Championship awards, including eleven gold, three silver, and two bronze medals. Last year, ESPN listed Allyson Felix as one of the top athletes from the past twenty years.

Most recently, Felix shared a poignant essay about her pregnancy journey. In the early stages of her pregnancy, Allyson kept quiet before revealing the big news. Although she was excited to become a mother, she felt hesitant to share such a vulnerable piece of information about herself with the world. After eight months, Felix opened up about being pregnant. On a psychological level, Allyson shared that she was worried about expectations from others, and that she was trying her best to live up to a “pristine nice girl image”. As an Olympic athlete, there is undoubtedly a tremendous amount of pressure and expectation for Felix to excel.

“But one of the lessons I've learned on this journey is that there's really only so much of this you can predict, much less control,” Allyson Felix shared. “By its very nature, pregnancy is about opening yourself and embracing whatever God and this child has in store for you.”

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The 33-year-old athlete has written in-depth about themes of strength and empowerment on her social media channels. Felix often shares inspirational posts. Although Allyson had initially had a plan to announce her pregnancy, including what clothes she wanted to sport in a maternal photoshoot, suddenly everything came to a screeching halt. After 32-weeks, Felix discovered that her baby’s heart rate was unusually low. Instead of rushing off to her pregnancy photo shoot, Allyson scheduled another appointment to follow-up on the new results concerning her pregnancy. In a matter of hours, Felix went to the hospital and doctors found that her blood pressure was spiking—while her baby’s heart rate was decreasing quickly.

“It's amazing how quickly your priorities change in moments like this. At that point, the only thing I cared about was that my daughter, Camryn, was OK. I didn't care if I ever ran track again. I was just praying that she would be OK.” Allyson shared in a poignant part of her essay.

On November 28th, Allyson Felix gave birth to her daughter, Camryn, at 3 pounds and 7 ounces. With her husband Kenneth at her side, Felix suffered from some complications with her blood pressure after the delivery. Although the pregnancy was successful, Felix couldn’t see her child right away due to her low blood pressure after delivery. After feeling overcome with worry about her newborn, she noted that she could barely believe that any of the situations were happening. In her essay, Felix writes about how grateful she has been for every step of her journey, and how she feels so inspired by the babies who are “fighting for their lives every second of the day”. During the experience, Felix has bonded with other mothers who have children in the NICU and wanted to share more about her personal experiences.

“There's a part of me that's still wondering why this happened to me. But honestly, I know God has a purpose even when I can't see or understand it in the moment. I'm just so grateful my daughter seems to be OK, I don't want to waste time being negative.” Felix wrote. “One of the lessons I've learned on this journey is that you can't control any of this. You can only control how you react to it. I choose to be grateful for what I have and do my best every day to hold on to it.”

Felix continues to share her optimism with the world. Although many more athletic events may be on the horizon, she has shared that she’s not in a rush to push herself based on other’s expectations of herself. Instead, the athlete has remained focused on taking care of her family. We wish the best of luck to Allyson Felix, Kenneth and Camryn at this time, and we’ll always be rooting for you!