Being determined and not letting anything stand on your way to success is the only way to fulfill your passions and dreams.
But what happens if in the middle of taking the exam your life and career depends on, you go into labor? This sounds too incredible to be true, one may say, but this is exactly what happened to mom-to-be, Brianna Hill, 28, whose water broke as she was taking her bar exam.
She was supposed to take the exam earlier this year, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was postponed for October 2020.
“I thought I would only be 28 weeks pregnant when I took the bar,” Brianna told CNN. “However, due to the pandemic, the test was pushed to October and I was going to be 38 weeks. I joked about taking the test from my hospital bed. Lesson learned!”
On October 5, Brianna was supposed to finish the first two sections. Since the testing was done online, she had to be facing the computer the whole time and wasn’t allowed to take any breaks until the first section was over. But just 30 minutes into the test, she could feel her water broke. Since she wasn’t allowed to stand up, she could only hope she wasn’t giving birth at that exact moment, but as it turned out, it was exactly what was happening.
“I couldn’t go check and so I finished the first section. As soon as I stood up when I finished, I knew my water had broken,” the Illinois mom said.
What happened next is unbelievable. “I took my break, got myself cleaned up, called my husband, midwife, and mom, cried because I was a little panicked, then sat down to take the second part because my midwife told me I had time before I needed to go to the hospital,” Brianna said. We can’t even imagine how she felt knowing her baby was coming any second and she was still in the middle of the most important exam.
Speaking to Good Morning America, this brave lady said, “I started the second section and 15 to 20 minutes in, I started having contractions. I had already asked for an accommodation to get up and go to the bathroom because I was 38 weeks pregnant and they said I’d get flagged for cheating. I couldn’t leave the view of the camera.”
Finally, after she finished the second section, Brianna was taken to the West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, Illinois, where she gave birth to baby Cassius Phillip Andrew less than five hours upon arrival.
This mother is a real hero. Even during the most stressful, yet exciting, moments of her life, she managed to stay calm and collected.
The first day as a mother was unusual for Brianna as it was the day she delivered her baby. She took the second part of the exam in the hospital room and nursed her son between sessions.
Sharing her unusual experience with Above the Law, the graduate from Loyola University School of Law in Chicago said, “Obviously, I really hope I passed but I’m mostly just proud that I pushed through and finished.”
After this (cursed?) post, sis finished 1st part of the Bar aaand her water broke! She took the 2nd part, went to hospital, had baby last night (in a mask!), & took the rest of the exam from a hospital bed today bc WOMEN ARE STRONG AS HAIL. The new lawyer-mom we don’t deserve!!! https://t.co/PMxonaPVrQ pic.twitter.com/CqGK34xM5q
— Kaitlyn Hill (@thekaitlynhill) October 6, 2020
We keep our fingers crossed for the new mom to pass her bar exam. She has put a lot of time and effort studying for it, and she definitely deserves it given the “crazy” circumstances she finished it in.