Mother attends her graduation ceremony 21 hours after giving birth

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A mother has attended her graduation ceremony just 21 hours after giving birth.

Zeinab Abdalla, 26, from Minneapolis, had her second daughter, Salma, at 8pm, but that did not stop her accepting her master's diploma in special education the next afternoon.

Ms Abdalla said graduating was a very important moment for her as she is the first in her family to reach third-level education.

Ms Abdalla spent two years working towards her degree at the University of St Thomas.

She moved to the US from Syria in 2006 and now runs her own daycare business. Ms Abdalla said she studied at night in order to achieve her goal.

Although her mother, Anab Yuguf, 50, thought Zeinab was “crazy” to attend graduation just one day after giving birth, she said it was important to her to accept her degree in person.

Ms Abdalla said that her friends, family and even doctors were shocked when they heard her plans to attend the ceremony.

“It was really important for me to attend because I was the first person in my family to graduate. That’s the main reason I wanted to go,” she said.

“I wanted to reward myself. It took so much hard work to get to this point.

"There were so many late nights studying, trying to get assignments in on time. Driving too and from college on those long winter nights. I needed to do this for myself."

Ms Abdullah said her classmates were delighted to see baby Salma at the ceremony.

“All my classmates came and looked at the baby, it was really sweet. Everyone says she looks really like me,” she said.

"I’m really proud of myself and everything I’ve achieved but I couldn’t have done it without the wonderful support at St Thomas’.

She is now taking a few months off to spend time with her new baby and is hoping to continue on with her education by working towards a PhD.

SWNS