Olympic champion Allyson Felix and her husband Kenneth Ferguson welcomed their daughter, Camryn in November. Felix had not publicly announced the birth or pregnancy until Thursday morning when she told her story to ESPN. 

“I've never really opened up about my personal life in this way before. I've always been a private person. Sharing too much, letting people inside the protective bubble we all create on social media, was never comfortable for me. It made me feel vulnerable.

"But it's time to change. To be the real me instead of who I think people want me to be, or what I have previously chosen to show them on social media,” Felix wrote.

Felix competed throughout the summer when she was in her first trimester, clocking times of 51.35 and 52.01 in the 400m, well off her personal best in the event.

"When I ran back-to-back slow times this June, people started to wonder why. My coach, Bobby Kersee, talked to me about shutting it down for the season. My brother and agent, Wes Felix, wanted to make sure I wasn't hurt. It was time to tell them what was really going on. I was pregnant.

"Wes was like, ‘I'm so glad you're not just slow!’”

Felix planned to announce her pregnancy in November, but when she went in for her 32-week check-up doctors noticed that the baby’s heart-rate was dropping and Felix’s blood pressure was rising.  

An emergency C-Section was required to deliver Camryn, and the baby was immediately taken to the neonatal intensive care unit, where she remains. 

“It's probably going to take me years to process everything that happened and what it all means. But right now I'm just happy my daughter is OK," Felix wrote. "She's going to be in the NICU for a while, but she's OK and I'm so, so grateful.”