Dr. Jasmine Johnson is the kind of mom you might want to avoid if crazy inspirational stories make you uncomfortable. Because in one word: Dang.
A senior in college at the University of Michigan when she found out that she and her boyfriend were unexpectedly expecting, Jasmine was devastated as what she saw as the ultimate wrench in her carefully made plans to go on to medical school. "I just kept thinking about how convinced I was that I could not have a baby and go to medical school, but how devastated I would be if I didn't have this baby," writes Jasmine on her blog, The Mrs. The Mommy. The M.D.
Eventually, after discussing her options with her boyfriend, visiting Planned Parenthood and meeting some real-life M.D. moms, Jasmine decided to continue with her pregnancy and became a mom to little Nate early on into her winter semester. Knowing that she had medical school interviews lined up, Jasmine chose to get induced as soon as it was medically safe to do so. "I was induced at 40 weeks and had my first medical school interview eleven days after Nate was born," Jasmine explains.
Let's say that again. Eleven days. I don't think I could form a coherent sentence eleven days after birth and I definitely couldn't have found any clothes to fit me that would be appropriate for a medical school interview. But Jasmine was determined, working from home through her two week "maternity leave" and getting back to campus within four weeks of giving birth.
After graduating in May with 14 med school rejections, Jasmine took a year to work through a post-graduate program and looked for the positives in her situation. "I completed the school year alone with my son in Indianapolis not only more prepared for medical school, but also more prepared to be the woman I was born to be," Jasmine says.
And her hard work paid off. The following May, Jasmine accepted a full-tuition scholarship to Indiana University School of Medicine and married her boyfriend and father of her baby. Since then, she has successfully graduated from medical school, had another baby (a beautiful daughter) and is now officially an OB-GYN resident, living a life of night-shifts, C-sections and grocery shopping marathons that most of us could never even imagine.
It's not always easy for Jasmine, juggling the duties of a full-time doctor and a mother of two, and although I've had my doubts if she was actually a mortal mom like the rest of us, she assures that she is. "Most days I am so thankful for this life that I have been given and this dream that I have been blessed to pursue," she says. "But some days have been guilt ridden and filled with questions of what I am doing to my family and myself. I'm sure I am just going through what all working moms/wives go through."
You got that right, Jasmine. But we're not all delivering babies and then coming home to our own, so in my mind, you're a hero.
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