Photo courtesy of Queshonda J. Kudaisi.
Dr. Queshonda J. Kudaisi graduated on Dec. 8. with her Ph.D. and gave birth to a baby girl on the same day in Winter Haven, Fla.
The mother of five also contracted COVID-19 in August and was afraid she and her unborn child wouldn’t survive. Dr. Kudaisi had been advised by her former nurse practitioner that she should not receive the vaccine while she was pregnant, which Kudaisi regrets.
The pregnant mom was also about to finish her Ph.D. program and was worried she wouldn’t be able to graduate. Even worse, she became fearful she may lose her life when she became so ill that she fractured her ribs from coughing so much and developed pneumonia.
“I was just praising God that I didn’t die,” she said. “I was just grateful…. I had a fever almost the whole time, even after taking Tylenol. I didn’t eat for about 14 days. I fractured my ribs because I was coughing so much. I ended up developing pneumonia — it was just terrible. I really thought I was going to die. I was thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I have worked so hard to get to this point and it’s going to be snatched away at the end.'”
The supermom not only survived, but she also gave birth to a healthy baby girl and received her Ph.D. Dr. Kudaisi posted a picture of her new bundle of joy on Twitter with a caption noting her recent struggle. She said that she left the hospital at noon with her newborn and had her other baby, her Ph.D., by 6 p.m.
“In August I contracted COVID while pregnant. I thought the baby and I wouldn’t survive, or that I would have to push back my graduation. However, yesterday proved me wrong. I was discharged from the hospital with a healthy baby girl at 12pm and attended graduation at 6pm #PhDMom.”
The 29-year-old superwoman also credited her husband, Oluwaseun Kudaisi, for being her support. Her husband also suffered from COVID along with their four other children.
Dr. Kudaisi plans to become a professor. She also plans to build up the non-profit community center she founded, Narrow Path Outreach.