A woman who hails from Illinois, US, went into labor and gave birth while taking the bar exam.
Brianna Hill, who is a recent graduate of the Loyola University School of Law in Chicago, knew she would be pregnant during her bar exam, but she wasn't expecting her test to be pushed forward due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking to CNN about her unconventional birth story, Brianna said: "I thought I would only be 28 weeks pregnant when I took the bar. 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!"
Per Brianna, the remote version of the test is four 90-minute sections spread out over two days, however, the exam is proctored so you have to sit in front of the computer the entire time to ensure that no cheating can occur.
"I thought I felt something about 30 minutes into the test and actually thought, 'I really hope my water didn't just break,'" Brianna told the publication. "But 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."
But this didn't stop Brianna from completing the test.
"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," she continued, before detailing that she got to the hospital at around 5:30 PM and that her baby boy arrived just after 10 PM.
"The whole time my husband and I were talking about how we wanted me to finish the test and my midwife and nurses were so on board. There just wasn't another option in my mind."
The following day, hospital staff provided Brianna with an empty room to finish the test and put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door.
She managed to complete the exam, and even nursed her newborn during breaks in the test.
"I'm so thankful for the support system I had around me. The midwives and nurses were so invested in helping me not only become a mom but also a lawyer," Brianna said. "My husband and law school friends provided me with so much encouragement so I could push through the finish line even under less than ideal circumstances. And my family, especially my sister, just kept reminding me how I could do it even when I wasn't so sure myself."
While she hasn't yet received her bar exam results, Brianna already has a job lined up.
