Days After Giving Birth, Allyson Felix Pens Powerful Note Concerning Black Maternal Health

The retired Olympian, Allyson Felix, delivered her second child Trey with husband Kenneth Ferguson, on the 10th of April 2024. Expanding her family, she has now recalled her pregnancy journey during her first baby, her daughter, Cammy. After the traumatic and life-threatening experience that she shared, she recalled the spectacular aid she received this time. Alongside, she also reiterated her commitment to the maternal health of black women.

The latest post on Allyson Felix’s Instagram after delivering Trey with equipped facilities, read, “My advocacy work around black maternal health will continue because every woman of color deserves to have the full experience of joy in birth, instead of the fear we are accustomed to. We are so madly in love with Trey.” While she was blessed to have an unmedicated VBAC this time, she continued to express her delight at the “most beautiful, powerful, ridiculously hard yet insanely rewarding experience.”

Wanting to carry forward the same for every other Black woman, Allyson Felix continued to talk about the medical health care and support they must get, just as she did from her doctors. The 38-year-old Black woman athlete also thanked her fellow ‘Black women’ professionals for encouraging her, whenever she doubted herself during her second pregnancy.

She thus acknowledged her doula – Chandler Christa Garrett and ‘Doula loves creation’, for furnishing her with the tools to give birth naturally using hypno-babies. “My birth experience inspires me to continue to advocate for Black maternal health and the outcomes we can achieve when we listen [to] and support women”, Allyson Felix stated to People.com. This adds one more page to Felix’s fight for the sake of women and maternity, the fight that started back in 2018.

Fighting back at the heartbreaking experiences while embracing motherhood

The 11x Olympic gold medal-winning runner opened up about embracing motherhood, while facing pressure from her sponsor, Nike to return to training soon. Even though her discomfort after undergoing an emergency cesarean section at 32 weeks was disregarded by the sports brand. Consequently, the brand handed Felix a seventy percent pay cut. It was then she took the charge to publicly reveal the misconduct of the brand. This eventually led Nike to change their maternity policy for athletes.

“There have been so many women before me who had to stay silent about their fight. And so for me to be able to step out and I think my daughter gave me the courage to do that,” Allyson Felix told reporters in 2021 after delivering Cammy, “But I think that was the thing, that this has been going on for far too long. And I hope that we’re changing things.” Not to forget, to add to her contention, the Olympic Champion had lately been facilitating the same support and energy for every woman, through the brand she established after her feud with Nike.

Allyson Felix’s sneaker brand Saysh has an interesting policy in place for women. The ‘Saysh Maternity Returns Policy’, aimed to acknowledge the transforming journey of motherhood and extend its support to women of all colors. It recognizes that a woman’s feet can change size during this transformative time. A new mother might have previously bought a Saysh pair which became out of size for pregnancy. In such cases, Saysh has promised to replace the pair free of cost. The step remains one more instance of Felix turning a debacle into a triumph.