A woman in Kansas City was absolutely determined to finish her college finals, even if that meant taking the exam while she was going through labor.
Nayzia Thomas is a sophomore student studying psychology at Johnson County Community College. She continued taking her classes all the way through her pregnancy until she went into labor. But instead of putting off an exam, Thomas decided that she would complete it before her baby was born.
“It wasn’t due until the end of the week,” Thomas told Yahoo! Lifestyle. “But my goal was to try to have everything done before. [I thought] before all this gets crazy, let me hurry up and finish this final.”
She was sitting in her hospital bed when she completed the final.
The final was about dissociative identity disorder, and she spent her time on her hospital bed carefully going through every single question. It was due on Dec. 11, and while she was preparing for labor, she submitted the assignment. Just a little over 12 hours later, Anthony Johnson, her son, was born.
Thomas’ mother, who captured a picture of her daughter working on her laptop, said that the photograph “encompassed who my daughter is.” Thomas agreed.
“School is so important to me. I didn’t want [the pregnancy] to be in the way. That’s what people expect. You’re a teen mom, you’re a young mother. That’s why my mom took that picture.”
Thomas said she was working three different jobs while taking summer classes when she found out she was pregnant.
Thomas posted about her finals and birth on Twitter, and her tweets received over 133,000 likes, as well as over 28,000 retweets.
The internet was blown away by her dedication and will to finish her college career. Her tweet also had a strong message. According to a study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research of 2014, a good 26 percent of all college undergraduates have a child. This number will most likely increase over the next couple of years, but the child care support for undergrads has declined. This is even more the case for women. Without having a proper support system and the proper finances, going to school, and taking care of a child is not an easy task.
Thomas was planning to take winter break off in order to properly care for her newborn child and then go back to school in January. Thanks to her boyfriend, her family, and her support system, she found an arrangement so that she will be able to go back to school and take 15 credits to complete her degree. Although she will spend less time with her son, she knows that it’s a sacrifice she needs to make for the future of her family.
After posting the picture that her mother took of her studying, she posted pictures of her, the father of the child, and the newborn baby.
According to Thomas, the baby is healthy. However, she experienced major blood loss and went into shock after the delivery. She wrote on Twitter that the experience was very scary but that the father of her child was with her every step of the way. He was able to help and take over responsibilities for their son when she became unconscious.
Thomas feels blessed for her little family and told her Twitter followers that she was able to finish the semester with a 3.5 GPA! This woman won’t let even labor get in the way of her goals and dreams.
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my mom took this pic & it’s the perfect explanation of my life. yes i’m about to have a baby, but final SZN ain’t over yet 🤓📚 pic.twitter.com/7LyrDBE9iN
— nayzia’ (@naydxll) December 12, 2017
