My son was just 12 weeks old when the firstpregnancy testcame back positive.

So did the second one.

And the blood test.

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Knigge and her son Thorin at Mount St. Helens in August 2017.

Ireallydont think Im pregnant, I told my doctor.

He yelled Bag o steel!

when hebroke my water.

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Knigge and Thorin at Mount Rainier in September 2017.

This time, I was feeling less amused.

At 12 weeks postpartum, my body still felt stretched and bruised and tender.

The thought of growing another baby inside of it right away made me want to surrender my uterus.

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Knigge and her husband smiling beside Thorin on his first birthday (July 2018).

Ive always been a person who lives life to the fullest.

Im a long-distance runner, a traveler, an outdoorswoman.

I knew Id be good at it, if I ever had the chance to try it.

Neither seemed fuller or more empty than the other.

But when I commit to the idea of something, Im all in.

Thorin was born in July 2017.

Ischlepped him up mountainsand to the Oregon Coast.

I was Adventure Mom.

Chuck was preparing to be a full-time dad.

I really didnt have time to figure out why my body mysteriously thought it was pregnant.

And I really,reallydidnt have time to actually be pregnant again.

At the appointment, my doctor believed I was pregnant.

However, he said, these other reasons were unlikely.

I spent the week getting ultrasounds, chest X-rays, and bloodwork, irritated at the inconvenience.

He suspected he knew what was going on.

Of course, I Googled it the second I got off the phone.

In a typical pregnancy, fertilized cells in the uterus develop into the fetus and placenta.

But some pregnancies are complicated when those cells dont form as they should.

Yet, I couldnt help think,My baby gave me cancer.

By every other measure, my pregnancy had been by the book.

We got pregnant on the first try, exactly when wed planned to.

I was able to keep running anddoing yoga(minus the inversions) until the very end.

Even my delivery was relatively easy, albeit 10 days late.

I had no reason to think it was anything else.

Choriocarcinomacan spreadto the lungs, brain, and other organs, and itsharder to cureonce it has spread.

But luckily, we caught it early thanks to that pregnancy test, even if it was somewhat accidentally.

The cancer hadnt spread beyond my uterus, but time was of the essence.

All of the sudden, everything was happening at once.

At the same time, Chuck was adjusting to life as a full-time dad to our son.

Itwouldnt be safe to nurse himwith the chemotherapy drugs pumping through my body.

But I made myself move on.

I got a good kind of cancer.

And I got to treat it with a good kind of chemo.

I went into it knowing I would come out on the other side.

But even though I knew it could have been so much worse, that didnt make it easy.

I was insecure about how I was showing up at my new job.

I was weak and nauseous and feeling guilty about relying on my husband to hold our lives together.

And I was trying to be a good mom, wife, sister, daughter, and friend.

So I hit the brakes.

I was incredibly nauseous for the first half of December 2017.

I went two weeks eating nothing but saltines, apple sauce, and plain mashed potatoes.

Ill never forget his facecovered with peas and looking utterly betrayedbecause thats the memory Im choosing to keep.

Instead of running and hiking and planning adventures, I sat on the couch and readDinosaur DanceandGossie & Gertie.

Instead of planning nights out on the town, we ordered pizza and played board games with family.

I reset my expectations for myself.

My husband and I swore wed never link the two again.

I finished my last round of chemotherapy at the end of February 2018.

My cancer is gone, and itshouldn’t come back.

I was healthy and lucky my body responded well to chemotherapy, and we caught and treated it early.

Before cancer, I was a person who went hard in everything I tried.

I couldnt finish one adventure before planning the next, wanting to do and experience everything.

I still am that person, for the most part.

But Im slower now, more deliberate.

Im a better wife now, a better mom.

And a better human.

Halley Knigge is a mom, writer, and adventurer living in Tacoma, Washington.

She is cancer-free as of March 1, 2018.