Brianna Hill planned to take the bar exam, a requirement to practice law, back in July, when she was 28 weeks pregnant, but the coronavirus pandemic pushed the exam date to October.
Her plans were also adjusted when the pandemic prompted testing services to take place online, rather than in person. While testing from home could certainly provide a more comfortable space, proctors required candidates to sit in front of their computers for the duration of the exam.
The recent graduate of the Loyola University School of Law in Chicago was 38 weeks pregnant by the time she finally sat for the two-day exam on Oct. 5.
Hill, 28, said she was working on the first 90-minute session of the exam when she noticed something felt off.
“I thought I felt something about 30 minutes into the test and actually thought, ‘I really hope my water didn’t just break,’” she said. “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.”
Despite the unexpected situation, Hill sat down and finished the second 90-minute session.
“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," Hill told CNN.
She told “Good Morning America” she started having contractions about 15 minutes into the second part of the exam.
“I had already asked for an accommodation to get up and go to the bathroom because I was ... pregnant, and they said I’d get flagged for cheating," she said. "I couldn’t leave the view of the camera.”
Hill finished the second portion of her exam and then went to a hospital, where she was in labor for about five hours.
She welcomed her first child. a boy, just after 10 p.m.
The next day, Hill finished the last two portions of her exam in an empty hospital room, nursing her newborn during breaks.
"There just wasn’t another option in my mind,” she said. “Life throws curve balls at you but when I have a goal, I’m going to see it through.”