Finals are stressful, especially when they fall around the holidays and you find yourself having to shop and aim for straight A's all at once. It might seem impossible to get through everything in one piece, but this story is about to show you that it definitely isn't. A Missouri woman just actually gave birth while finishing her final exams. Like, gave birth to a human being. If that doesn't inspire you to study through your holiday party hangover, I don't know what will.
On Dec. 12, Nayzia Thomas tweeted a photo of herself finishing up a final exam on dissociative identity disorder while sitting in a hospital bed in labor. Her mom snapped the shot as she concentrated on finishing before her baby was born, and, for obvious reasons, the tweet went viral almost immediately. After all, how many of us can say we birthed a human being as we also successfully completed a college semester? She brings a whole new meaning to being a strong woman!
Thomas is a psychology major at Johnson County Community College in Kansas City, MO. She was 39 weeks pregnant and still heading to school, planning on wrapping up her semester before giving birth. Unfortunately, babies don't care about your schedule, and when they want out, you have to listen. When Thomas went into labor, she had two choices: leave her final behind and receive an "incomplete" or finish up the assignment as quickly as possible. Not wanting to put her GPA at risk, she chose to bring her work to her hospital bed.
And get this: she probably could have finished the final after the baby was born, she just wasn't taking any chances. Thomas told Yahoo! Lifestyle, "It wasn't due until the end of the week — finals week is Dec. 11 to tomorrow —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.'"
Let's be real: many of us would have used going into labor as an excuse for getting an extension for our finals (and understandably so!). But for Thomas, the decision to put school first for as long as she could seemed obvious to her. Thomas told Yahoo! Lifestyle that she was working three jobs and taking summer classes when she discovered she was pregnant. She said, "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. It shows [I] follow through."
Once she was done with her finals, Thomas gave birth to her son, Anthony Johnson, on Dec. 12 at 1:30 p.m. After undergoing some complications, Thomas updated Twitter on her situation:
As Twitter noted, Thomas didn't only deliver a beautiful baby boy while slaying her GPA — she also managed to look amazing while doing it. Users were quick to point out that her hair game was strong as she laid in a hospital bed with her boyfriend.
As of today, Thomas' tweet has close to 30,000 retweets and over 132,000 likes. It also seems like she's home feeling a lot better with her healthy baby boy.
Not only did Thomas deliver a beautiful baby, but she finished up her college semester with a terrific GPA. Plus, Twitter users were so impressed with her hair, that she might even discover a career in making wigs. Check it out:
Whatever Thomas does, I'm confident she'll be amazing at it. Her story has been super inspiring for a lot of students, especially for moms going to school while raising their kids. Of course, not every pregnant woman can be in the right physical and emotional state to take finals while in labor, but Thomas' struggle shows that with the right determination, you can figure out every tough situation you're placed in. She's definitely inspired me!
