Bermudian Melissa Looby, 23, was pregnant, but well on her way to a certificate in law from University of Kent Law School when she suddenly went into labour three months early.Her son Tori Jr (TJ) was born prematurely in Bermuda, and then flown to the Izaak Walton Killam (IWK) Centre at Grace Maternity Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He weighed 2lb 3oz at birth. For his mother, it was naturally hard to focus on studying, and for almost a month she did no studying at all and fell behind.The Bermuda College has partnered with Kent Law School to offer the LLB Stage I Programme since 1985 as a two-year part-time evening programme leading to a Certificate in Law and Society. The programme is equivalent to one year's full time study at the first year undergraduate level and is validated by the University of Kent.“I decided to study law at the end of my associates degree in English Literature in 2009,” said Miss Looby. “A law degree came up and I took a look at that. I had some personal things that happened that led me towards studying law. It just all fell into place. My sister Jennifer, 20, is also studying law. We just decided that this was something we could do, and it would be even better that we could do it together. TJ's due date was a couple of days after my exams. It would have worked out perfectly in a perfect world.”It is thought that Miss Looby went into labour early due to urinary tract infections that weakened her membranes. The membranes became very susceptible to ruptures.“He was active in the womb anyway,” said Miss Looby. “When I went to the hospital and the lady did the examination, she felt his fingers or toes. He had kicked through the membrane and was on his way.”He was due on May 19 of this year, but instead was born three months earlier on February 15. He had to be resuscitated when he was born and then put on a ventilator, before being sent to Canada for more specialised treatment. There, he was treated for jaundice and also battled infections. Miss Looby's worse day was probably the day they got a phone call at 4am from the hospital, saying that TJ was having apneas. He would just stop breathing.“We were just getting used to him being there, and knowing that he was making progress and this was a huge step backwards,” said Miss Looby. “That was the worst night. We had to keep tapping his feet or shaking him, so he would remember to breathe.”They were in Canada for just over two months.“It was definitely unexpected,” said Miss Looby. “It was a tough road. We were out there for two months with him and it had its ups and downs. We had to go day by day. Some days were definitely better than others. I didn't have a choice about studying. I still had two very important assignments to turn in, including an oral presentation and a big written assignment. One was 50 percent of my grade.”Some days she would have to take her laptop and books and sit beside the baby in the hospital. At first she thought she couldn't possibly study, while dealing with the crisis. She thought about putting off her exams and doing them in August, but both her mother, sister and boyfriend, Tori Richardson, convinced her otherwise. She ended up sending her assignments to her professor through e-mail, and doing her oral presentation through Skype, an online messaging service.After she took her final examination, she was sure she had failed, so she was overjoyed when both she and her sister received phone calls saying they had passed the course. Their mother also graduated from the Bermuda College in May. Although the certificate is just one step on the long road to a law degree, the awards ceremony at the Bermuda College was an emotional triumph for her and her family.“I am not too sure what kind of law I would like to go into, but I think it will be family law,” said Miss Looby.She still has two years left to finish to get her bachelors in law degree, and is currently applying for distance learning programmes, so that she can finish those while her son grows up. Otherwise, she will probably take her son to England next year to finish her degree.“If we do it that way that will be good too,” she said. “My mother just graduated this year also. So she is looking to get her bachelor's degree. If we do that, all of us can go together. My mother is majoring in English and would like to come back to Bermuda to teach.”And TJ seems a chubby, happy, healthy baby who has just learned to smile. His mother said he is definitely a “miracle baby”.“He has had no complications from being born prematurely at all,” said Miss Looby. “He had a hernia and they think that is gone now.”Miss Looby is about to go back to work as a circulation assistant at the Youth Library on Church Street in the City of Hamilton.For more information about the Kent Law programme at the Bermuda College see www.bercol.bm/programmes/KentLawProgramme . For more information about the IWK Centre in Canada go to http://www.iwk.nshealth.ca