Lots of expecting mothers have to balance work with the demands of their pregnancy, but Nayzia Thomas was in an even tougher situation.
The 19-year-old college sophomore learned she was pregnant this summer, and most of her friends and family expected she would put her education on hold during the pregnancy. But the dedicated student said she had no plans to take things easy.
In fact, Thomas worked a full time job while continuing to study psychology and neuroscience at Johnson County Community College in Kansas City, Missouri.
Thomas stayed in class until she was 39 weeks pregnant, just days before the fall semester ended. She expected to finish the entire course, but her delivery was a little earlier than she expected.
As in, she was still finishing a paper when she went into labor, and a photo of her in the delivery room proves it.
"I was at 2 centimeters when I was finishing the paper," the determined mom said, "The contractions were painful, but I have a high pain tolerance. I thought "˜Before this gets unbearable, let's get this done.'"
In fact, Thomas had three more days to submit the assignment, but realized she would have no time to finish it after the baby was born.
"It wasn't due until the end of the week," she told People, "[I thought] "˜before all this gets crazy let me hurry up and finish this final.'"
Not only did Thomas pull it off in time, she also dealt with a grueling delivery as soon as she handed the paper in.
Thomas spent the first two hours of her eight-hour delivery finishing the paper, but the other six hours didn't go so smoothly.
"Luckily, I was done with my paper," she said. "The contractions are all bad. They get worse as you go along." Thomas gave birth to a healthy six pound, eight ounce baby boy named Anthony (AJ for short) but the delivery was intense.
As Thomas cuddled with her new baby she started feeling "really lightheaded and really woozy."
"I wasn't feeling right, and I blacked out."
Doctors assumed the young mom's symptoms were a side effect of her late epidural, but then she started experiencing severe chest pain, and had trouble breathing. "My chest was hurting really bad," she explained, "and when I moved, I [couldn't] really breathe."
A blood transfusion helped get Thomas back on her feet, and doctors concluded that she probably went into shock after her delivery.
After all that trouble, at least she got a happy ending. Thomas revealed she earned an A on her paper, and finished her tough semester with a 3.5 GPA. As people fell in love with her story on social media, Thomas said she hopes it will inspire other young mothers.
"You can do it," she tells other young women. "A lot of things in life [are] mind [over] matter. You have to be strong and you have to fight through it."
What an incredible story! Congrats to this amazing new mom!
[H/T: Today]