Pregnant aspiring lawyer powers through labor pains during bar exam


Aspiring lawyers exercise a ridiculous amount of focus while preparing for the bar. So after the 2022 Bar Examinations on the 5th and 6th February, bar examinees were relieved to be able to do the things they enjoy once again. Associate Justice Marvic Leonen even tweetedPwede nang magjowa” (“You can have romantic partners now”), which gained positive reactions from his followers.

But another tweet brought the associate justice’s statement to a whole other level. Niez Sabrido (@itsmeniezel) quote retweeted Leonen with “Pwede nang manganak” (“You can give birth now.”), sharing the story of her fellow bar exam taker Melyssa Albaran who took the exam despite labor pains on 6th February.


Straight to the delivery room


Bar exam - pregnant woman
Niez Sabrido’s tweet
Image credit: @itsmeniezel

Albaran diligently answered the exam at the Central Philippine University in Iloilo despite being in early labor. Proctors and even people at the command center in Quezon City, Metro Manila were informed of her condition.

Thankfully, there was an ambulance on standby at Albaran’s exam venue. From Jaro, Iloilo, she was transported to a hospital in Roxas City, Capiz right after she finished her exam. The trip takes regular vehicles over two hours, though it would be much faster for an ambulance.

Albaran gave birth to a healthy baby boy on the very same day at 6.38PM, as her former classmate shared through a tweet.


Associate justice expresses admiration


Bar Exam - Associate Justice Leonen
Associate Justice Leonen’s reply

Image credit: @marvicleonen

Associate Justice Leonen replied to Sabrido’s tweet, expressing admiration towards Albaran.

Kami din [sic] po sa Command Center na bilib [sic]. Unang tinanong ng Operations Head ko noong sinabing dadalhin na siya sa delivery, “successful na ba ang upload ng exam niya?”,” the associate justice shared.

(We at the Command Center were also in awe. The first question my operations head asked when [the pregnant bar examinee] was sent to the delivery room was, “[Were her exam answers] successfully uploaded?”)

The associate justice then extended his team’s best regards to the new mother.

Fellow barristers and other netizens also praised Albaran, calling her a strong woman for taking the bar exam in the middle of childbirth.


New mother thanks ambulance staff


Albaran thanked her doctor and the ambulance crew for her successful delivery through a Facebook post published on the same night of her labor, calling them her “angels”.

“I will forever be grateful. My baby and I were at [sic] the brink of death, but you guys never lost faith. I could not have survived what I went through if it were not for all of you,” she wrote.

Congratulations to Albaran for finishing the bar exam and for her new baby!

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Cover image adapted from: Melyssa DP Albaran and @itsmeniezel

 

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