Release api_core 1.8.1 (#7506)
* Release 1.8.1
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index db617cd..710bb2e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,13 @@
[1]: https://pypi.org/project/google-api-core/#history
+## 1.8.1
+
+03-12-2019 12:45 PDT
+
+### Implementation Changes
+- Protect the creation of a background thread in BackgroundConsumer and wait on it starting. ([#7499](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-python/pull/7499))
+
## 1.8.0
02-23-2019 15:46 PST
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9ffa58b..49fb645 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
name = "google-api-core"
description = "Google API client core library"
-version = "1.8.0"
+version = "1.8.1"
# Should be one of:
# 'Development Status :: 3 - Alpha'
# 'Development Status :: 4 - Beta'