Amazing mom gives birth in sports car going 120 mph then defends her dissertation

Tamiah Brevard-Rodriguez was about to meet faculty at Rutgers University in New Jersey to defend her doctoral dissertation, when suddenly her water broke and she went into labor — a month early.

The 40-year-old research center director told Rutgers Today she had two goals for the year: delivering her dissertation and then her second child — in that order.

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“Why can’t the roles that were historically assigned to mothers be fulfilled by parents — or loved ones — of any kind?”

“Both were my 40th birthday presents to myself,” she told the school paper. “I said, I need to finish this doctorate, and I need to have my last baby.”

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It was 2:15 a.m. — just when she was fine tuning her presentation for later that day — when her son Enzo let her know he had different plans.

“My wife is trying to keep me calm, and telling me that maybe we have time, because now I’m physically shaking. I’m about to have a baby on the biggest day,” she said. “I tried to lay down. And then I was like, no, I’m in active labor. This baby’s coming today.”

While Brevard-Rodriguez labored, wife Alyza arranged for a sitter for their four-year-old daughter. That’s when the expectant mom knew time was running out for a hospital delivery: The baby was crowning.

Brevard-Rodriguez piled into Alyza’s Maserati Levante and the two took off to the hospital. It wasn’t soon enough for the son she was about to deliver.

“My wife’s nickname is Danica,” Brevard-Rodriguez explained, referring to NASCAR racer Danica Patrick, “because she drives fast. She’s going like 120 mph and didn’t get a chance to pull over.”

“In three pushes,” said Brevard-Rodriguez, “he was in my arms.”

Minutes later, the couple rolled into the hospital with a healthy son. At 5 pounds, 12 ounces, he was in perfect health for a baby born four weeks early.  

After she and Enzo had been evaluated, Brevard-Rodriguez remembered her second, scheduled delivery: her dissertation presentation at 1 p.m. that afternoon. She said her advisor was about to contact the committee to reschedule, but Brevard-Rodriguez wanted to go for it — she’d defend her dissertation from her hospital bed.

“My doula said, ‘It would be such a bad-ass move. You just had your baby and will do the dissertation at the same time.’ And I thought, ‘Yeah, I think I got it,’” she said. “I told my wife, ‘Go get me some clothes, my laptop, and bring the charger.’”

No one on the Zoom call except her advisor knew she’d just given birth; Brevard-Rodriguez said she didn’t want the committee swayed by her extraordinary morning. A successful defense of her dissertation about beauty standards for Black college women would grant her a doctorate in education.

At the end of the presentation, she dropped the Rutgers logo background to reveal she was laid up in the maternity ward.

“When she said the baby had arrived earlier that morning, I was completely astounded,” said Professor Melina Mangin with the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. “Tamiah had delivered a flawless defense with zero indication that she had just given birth. She really took the idea of productivity to the next level!”

 Up next for Brevard-Rodriguez, now with doctorate in hand: maternity leave.

“I told myself, this baby will be your hard stop for school. It will be your hard stop for work, and then you can dedicate yourself to you and your family,” she said. “So, will I get back to my career and what it could be? Absolutely. But for right now, it’s all about focusing on what really matters.”

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