The woman gave birth in the front seat of a car a few hours before defending her doctoral thesis

This Mother’s Day is special for one New Jersey woman who’s celebrating each the birth of her second child and the receipt of her Ph.D. Surprisingly, this is not the first time a mother has experienced the joyous transition between motherhood and earning her degree.

Tamiah Brevard-Rodriguez, 40, a doctoral candidate and director of the Aresty Research Center at Rutgers University, began feeling contractions in the early morning hours of March 25 as she was making last-minute preparations for her thesis defense – but she didn’t think her second child was due. world for 4 more weeks. Instead, Brevard-Rodriguez focused later that day on defending herself in front of professors, family and friends.

“I was physically prepared for pregnancy; mentally I wasn’t thinking about having a baby,” she told a local ABC 7 join. “So I had a very emotional reaction, knowing that I was giving birth, knowing that I had this protection. I was literally shaking.”

As the contractions worsened, she and her wife, Alyza Brevard-Rodriguez, consulted their doula and decided to try going to the hospital. But because the doula was on the phone and his wife was driving as fast as her car would allow, Brevard-Rodriguez gave birth on the way in the front passenger seat.

“The doula is trying to tell me, ‘Don’t grunt, just breathe,’ and I’m like, ‘This baby is coming,'” Brevard-Rodriguez told ABC 7.

After just three pushes, little Enzo was born at 5:55 a.m. completely healthy, other than a little jaundice. The baby weighed five kilos, 12 ounces and was 19 inches long.

– said the latest mother NewJersey.com that although she and the baby were tremendous, “then I had to describe (Alyza’s) car in detail.”

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Once the couple arrived at the hospital and the mother and baby were examined, Brevard-Rodriguez fell into a nap. She freshened up with a shower and proceeded to defend her thesis, titled “Black Women’s College Beauty Performances: A Narrative Study Exploring the Realities of Race, Respect, and Beauty Standards on a Historically White Campus,” virtually from her hospital bed, as scheduled. Brevard-Rodriguez hid her origins until she was done, after which revealed the big news. She told NJ.com that folks on the Zoom call were so shocked that they “dropped out.”

She added: “Although (four) weeks early, he is thriving and the happiest little baby. He is surrounded by lots of love and has brought so much joy to our home.”

Brevard-Rodriguez noted that she was proud of herself for “fulfilling her obligations both educationally and familially.”

She continued: “It has been a long six-year journey that has included the birth of my two children, a global pandemic, and two spouses’ military deployments. I worked hard for this moment and (I feel) blessed to have had my son and defense on the same day.

The mom of two (she’s also mom to 4-year-old Aubriel) said she’s looking forward to wrapping up her PhD with graduation and spending the remaining months of her maternity leave with her family.

“We (are planning to) celebrate Mother’s Day after graduation at home with our family,” she wrote, adding that the celebration doesn’t end with just her. “We are happy that multi-generational mothers in our family celebrate with us. My wife and daughter are also graduating, so the coming month will be full of excitement.”