Tianna Bartoletta (née Madison), a two-time Olympian with three gold medals, didn’t always want to be a mother. She knew from the beginning that pregnancy and childbirth could be dangerous, especially for Black women. “It was not something I wanted to put myself through,” she said. Fast forward, and imagine her surprise when she discovered she was pregnant, shortly after competing in the Olympic trials for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. After finding out she was pregnant, she and her partner had to sit down and have a lot of tough conversations. Ultimately, this led to them going through with the pregnancy and doing everything they could to prepare accordingly.

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