Medical student Lily Fulton-Humble took multitasking to a whole new level - spending the first 10 hours of labour extracting research data to ensure she could complete her studies and graduate as a doctor.
She will receive her degree from the University of Aberdeen today in a special online ceremony while caring for her four-week-old daughter Florence at her Northumberland home.
Lily, 29, also managed to organise a wedding for just a week after her final fourth year exams and did not take any time out of her studies or placements despite struggling with morning sickness.
Lily said: “My husband Harry jokes that Florence has already done fifth year medical school but I’m not sure she was too much help!
“I had awful morning sickness until 19 weeks so that was the toughest period other than the mad rush to complete work at the end before, and immediately after, Florence’s arrival.”
As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, the deadline for submission of final assignments was brought forward meaning Lily had to complete four weeks earlier than she had originally anticipated. To fit everything in, she worked through the first 10 hours of labour and completed a further two weeks of report writing while looking after a new born, taking just a week off to recover from the birth.
"I couldn't have done it without my husband; he held Florence while I wrote the report,” she added.
“I certainly wouldn’t recommend it and I’m not sure I’d want to repeat it but it has definitely been worth struggling through.”
Lily, who already has both an undergraduate degree and masters’ in neuroscience, decided to pursue a career in medicine after working in research and then as an underwriter in medical malpractice.
She said achieving her dream without extending her period of study had only been possible thanks to the flexibility and support of the School of Medicine at Aberdeen.
“We take our final exams at the end of fourth year,” Lily said. “I organised the wedding for just after finals so that we'd have some time for a honeymoon before starting 5th year. I found out I was pregnant before term started back"
“Fifth year is made up of four different clinical blocks and the medical school were fantastic in allowing me switch the order of these around so that I did those in clinical settings first and then finished with my elective module which I was able to do from home.
“I worked with a stroke consultant and made use of data I’d already gathered but I couldn’t have completed within the time constraints without this flexibility.”
Lily has secured her first-choice clinical placements as a junior doctor in geriatric medicine and then in cardiology which she will begin in December with the Northumbria Healthcare Trust.