Many mothers lament how long it takes to "get their bodies back" after they give birth, and most of us find it more of a distant wish than a doable reality. Who knew that building a human practically from scratch and then extracting it from your body would take its toll?
However, one mama has turned that notion on its head completely. After winning her 12th World Championship gold medal in the mixed-gender 4x400m relay, runner Allyson Felix has beaten the gold medal count record she co-held with Usain Bolt. But the real kicker? She did it just ten months after giving birth to a premature baby via emergency c-section.
There aren't enough superlatives to describe how freaking badass this is.
During her pregnancy, Felix developed severe preeclampsia (or toxemia), a condition marked by excessively high blood pressure and a posing a host of dangers for both mother and baby. As NBC Sports reports, Felix ended up delivering her daughter Camryn via c-section on November 28, 2018, at 32 weeks. Born at three pounds, seven ounces, Camryn then spent 29 days in the NICU.
So this 33-year-old Olympic champion recovered from a complicated pregnancy and birth and went through the challenges of having a baby in intensive care, while she also got herself in good enough shape to break a world record in her sport less than a year later.
Allyson Felix (@af85) on
According to Upworthy, Felix was also part of a group of female athletes that went to battle over their sponsorship negotiations with Nike after becoming pregnant. Felix wrote in a NY Times op-ed in May 2019 that the company had wanted to pay her less after she became pregnant.
Felix ended up dropping her Nike deal and signed with Athleta back in July 2019. Nike's loss, Athleta's gain. After fierce backlash over the issue, Nike announced in August 2019 that it had changed its policy so female athletes would not "adversely impacted financially for pregnancy" for 18 months—six months longer than its previous policy.
While Felix's performance ten months after giving birth is remarkable, it also should not be the expected standard. Felix said that she "felt pressure to return to form as soon as possible" after her daughter was born, despite the complications in her pregnancy and birth.
Just the act of growing and delivering a baby is a physical feat that deserves praise and admiration. According to a study on the limits human endurance, pregnancy demands the same energy levels as an ultramarathon.
The truth is that all mothers are amazing, whether or not they are smashing gold medal records ten months after giving birth. And this undeniable truth is what makes Allyson Felix breaking her and Usain Bolt's record all the more impressive.
Allyson Felix (@af85) on
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