Abby Bailiff, a 28-year-old, joyfully welcomed her baby boy a mere 24 hours prior to her scheduled graduation ceremony.
In a remarkable feat, a woman in North Carolina accomplished the seemingly superhuman task of both giving birth to a baby boy and graduating from college within a span of just 24 hours. Abby Bailiff, 28, had originally expected to give birth to her son, Bodie, on April 27, a week prior to her graduation from the UNC Greensboro School of Nursing on May 4. However, life had a different plan in store for her.
As her due date came and went, Bailiff expressed her increasing anxiety, saying, “Every day past 40 weeks I was like, ‘Oh gosh. This is getting closer and closer.’” Concerns about the development of Bodie’s lungs prompted doctors to induce labor on May 2, merely two days before her graduation.
“It was not the original plan to be that close to graduation… but Bodie had other plans,” she shared.
On May 3, at 3:08 p.m., Bailiff successfully gave birth to Bodie without any complications. She spent the night at the hospital and was discharged the following day—her graduation day—which was scheduled for 3 p.m.
“I was still debating on whether I was going or not, because I didn’t want to be, like, a bad mom and just up and leave him right when I got home,” Bailiff revealed to GMA.
“But around 1:30, I was like, ‘I think I should really do this.’ My sister and mom were here, and they were like, ‘Well, let’s get you ready,’” Bailiff recounted.
In an extraordinary display of determination, Bailiff managed to attend her graduation ceremony just 24 hours after giving birth. With her husband and newborn baby watching through Facetime, she walked across the stage to receive her doctorate for UNCG’s doctor of nursing practice program.
“Once I got there and I walked in, I was like, I’m so glad I came,” expressed Bailiff, who successfully completed the three-year program while juggling her responsibilities as a registered nurse. “It was an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. I can’t even describe the feeling I felt. I was just overjoyed.”
Bailiff’s sister, Hannah Allison, shared a video capturing the significant milestone on TikTok, which quickly gained popularity with 1.2 million views and over 156,000 likes. The video was captioned: “and that’s on girl power” accompanied by hashtags such as #superwoman, #dnp, #newmom, and #doctorate.
Bailiff expressed her surprise and gratitude for the overwhelming response her story received online. Reflecting on the experience, she shared, “At the moment, I was just like, I’ll just go and do it, and then when my sister made the video, it just kind of put everything in perspective.”
“I just felt like a superhero,” Bailiff enthusiastically added. “Women are just so capable of doing whatever we can to accomplish our goals and still be a mom and still have career aspirations. So, it was really empowering to witness.”
