Finals week is hard on any college student; with exams and major projects due so closely together, it’s often a complex game of time management, fueled by junk food and caffeine consumed in dorm rooms and all-night computer labs. But college sophomore Nayzia Thomas, 19, finished her semester unlike most students: delivering both a psych final AND her first child, just 12 hours apart.
The psychology and neuroscience major from Kansas City, Missouri, tells Yahoo! Lifestyle that taking an “incomplete” in the course was an option that just didn’t work for her:
She stayed in school until she was 39 weeks pregnant and even aimed to finish her final exams before her son came into the world. But babies are on their own timelines, and Thomas went into labor ahead of schedule.
“It wasn’t due until the end of the week...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.’”
For the first two hours of her labor, she typed through contractions.
“I was at 2 centimeters when I was finishing the paper. The contractions were painful, but I have a high pain tolerance. I thought ‘Before this gets unbearable, let’s get this done.’”
Nayzia’s mother, Aisha Kelley, took the photo of her daughter hitting the books in the delivery room, which has since gone viral.
Thomas tells TODAY that she was stunned by the attention her tweet received.
“I was just sharing the moment,” she said. “I live my life every day, just doing what I am supposed to be doing."
Though there were complications after the birth, mother and son, Anthony are out of the hospital and doing well. Upon returning home, Thomas learned she got an A on her final, and a 3.5 GPA for the semester.
A 2014 study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research reports that 26 percent of all college undergraduates have a child dependent on them. It's estimated that less than 2% of teen mothers graduate college before age 30. But this young parent is determined to break those odds.
Her psychology professor, Barbara Ladd, told Kansas City’s KSHB-TV that she has no doubt Nayzia can do it.
”She is such a great student, and I know she’s gonna be a great mom.”
Thomas plans to recuperate during her month-long semester break, then return as a full-time student in January.
"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.”
She also has some encouraging words for other moms out there:
“You can do it. A lot of things in life (are) mind (over) matter,” Thomas said. “You have to be strong and you have to fight through it.”