A nurse who gave up on dating decided to pay for IVF treatment to have a baby on her own, before meeting her soulmate four months later—who became a devoted father. The 39-year-old always dreamed she’d be married by age 30 and have a big family—but after a failed engagement and six years of unsuccessful […] The post She Found Her Soulmate 4 Months After Deciding to Start a Family On her Own With IVF appeared first on Good News Network.

Death is a mystery in so many ways, despite the fact that we all know for sure it’s going to happen. We don’t know when we will go and can’t really be sure of what comes next, so whether we’re thinking about ourselves or a loved one, there’s understandably a lot of fear and uncertainty around death. That’s why Julie McFadden’s work is so important. As a palliative care nurse in the Los Angeles area, who has seen over a hundred people die, her videos shed light on the process to make us all a bit more comfortable with the inevitable. McFadden is also the author of the bestseller, “Nothing to Fear.” The nurse’s experience helping people in their final stages has given her a unique perspective on the process. In one video, she shared how she can see the first symptoms that someone is going to die a natural death about 6 months before they finally do. In other words, she can determine that someone only has half a year left to live when most of us have no idea they have entered the final stages of life. @hospicenursejulie Replying to @Mariah educating yourself about scary topics will help decrease fear. Nothing to Fear - my book- out june 11th #hospicenursejulie #hospicenurse #caregiversoftiktok #medicaltiktok #learnontiktok #nothingtofearbook ♬ original sound – ? Hospice nurse Julie ? What are the signs a person is dying at the 6-month mark? McFadden says that people who are dying are usually placed in hospice care when the symptoms begin to appear around the 6-month mark. “You will have very generalized symptoms. Those symptoms will usually be, one, you will be less social. So you’ll be more introverted than extroverted,” McFadden said. “Two, you will be sleeping a lot more. And three, you will be eating and drinking a lot less. Literally, everyone on hospice, I see this happen to.” A heavenly view of the sky. Photo credit: PIxbay/Pexels What are the signs a person is dying at the 3-month mark? You are going to notice more debility,” McFadden continues. “They will be staying in their house most of the time. It’s going to be difficult getting up and just going to the bathroom. Again, sleeping a lot more and eating and drinking a lot less.” What are the signs a person is dying at the 1-month mark? Something usually begins to happen in the final month of someone’s life. They start to believe they are in contact with others they have lost. It’s like they are there to make the dying person feel comfortable with their final transition. “Usually around the one month mark is when people will start seeing ‘the unseen’, they have the visioning. They’ll be seeing dead relatives, dead loved ones, dead pets, old friends who have died,” McFadden said. “Again, not everyone — but many, many people will start seeing these things at around one month.” Angela Morrow, a registered nurse at Verywell Health, agrees that people in the final stage of life often hear from those who have passed before them. Morrow says we should refrain from correcting the patients when they share their stories of talking to people and pets who have died. “You might feel frustrated because you can’t know for sure whether they’re hallucinating, having a spiritual experience, or just getting confused. The uncertainty can be unsettling, but it’s part of the process,” Morrow writes. At the end of the video, McFadden says that the most important factors palliative care nurses look at to determine the stage of death are eating, drinking and sleeping. “Most people, a few weeks out from death, will be sleeping more than they are awake. And they will be barely eating and barely drinking,” McFadden said. In the end, hospice nurses “allow the body to be the guide” as they help their patients transition from life to death. McFadden’s work has brought a lot of peace to her followers as they go through trying times. “My mom is in hospice right now and she’s currently, I think, hours or days from death. YourTikToks have helped me out tremendously,” Deb wrote. “My grandma passed away in February, and she experienced all of this. this page brings me peace knowing everything she went through was natural,” Jaida added. “Thanks, Julie. I volunteer in a hospice end-of-life facility, and this helps educate the families. Your posts are wonderful,” Grandma Nita wrote. One of the things that makes death so scary is the number of unknowns surrounding the process, so it’s important that McFadden shares her stories of helping people to the next side. She shows that death is a natural process and that hospice nurses are here to help make the transition as peaceful as possible. This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated. The post Can you tell someone will die months before it happens? A hospice nurse shares the clues. appeared first on Upworthy.

A lot of thought goes into choosing a baby’s name. Will other kids have the same name when they start kindergarten? Is the name too dull? Is the name too original? Will the name lead to bullying? Will the name look good on a job application? Could you run for president with this name? Popular TikToker Emily Windham, 23, from Birmingham, Alabama, is adding another question that parents should ask themselves: What will their initials be? Windham has gone viral for her video in which she reveals how disheartening it is when she has to write her initials, especially when they appear multiple times on a document. To put it simply, they are pretty yucky. “When you’re deciding what to name your kids, look at what their initials are going to be,” she says at the beginning of her video. “Every time I have to initial a document, I have to write ‘EW.’ All these little initial lines just say EW EW EW EW.” The situation is frustrating for Emily because her parents considered naming her Alexia, which would have been AW, which is sweet. “That’s so cute,” she said.   @emwindham Easy em in tha house ?????? ♬ original sound – em windham ?️ The post inspired other people with unfortunate initials to comment; some of them are much harder to live with than EW. “Yea… mine is XL,” Xitlali wrote. “Mine is ‘BLT’ because it was my dad’s favorite sandwich. Mom didn’t notice until it was too late I don’t even like blts,” Bryony Tally Art wrote. “Mine is ‘PP’ elementary and middle school was a blast,” Pais wrote. “I knew a girl in school whose name was Amy, and her initials were also AMY, and I’ll never forget because that’s so baller,” Charlie wrote. “My son’s initials are BRB,” Ashleigh wrote. “My initials are EGG,” El-Glory wrote. “My initials spell EMO and I think that’s awesome,” Elle wrote. “Mine is OG… now I’m getting married and it’ll be OJ. Can’t decide if I like an original gangster or Orange Juice more,” Olivia wrote. “Mine is ME, and when I sign out on duties at work, someone goes, ‘Can someone please stop signing ME and sign your initials?’ I’m like, those are my initials,” a TikToker named Madison wrote. @thesam_show sorry if i talk about this problem too much but it is HAPPENING AGAIN!! ♬ original sound – Sam Showalter Emily’s story is similar to that of Samantha Hart, a woman who went viral on TikTok in 2023 because her name doesn’t exactly work well with modern email conventions. Clearly, her parents hadn’t thought that her name would cause any trouble in the late ’90s when email was a new thing. So, she made a video warning parents to think of their children’s future email addresses before selecting a name. “My name is Samantha Hart,” the 27-year-old said. “Most companies use the email designation of first initial, last name, meaning my email would be shart.” A shart is an accidental release when one assumes they only have gas, which is not exactly how one wants to be known in professional circles. Imagine sending an email to someone at another company and their name comes up as SHart. YOu might even think that someone is pranking you. “At every single workplace, I have received an email from HR the week before I start letting me know that my name does not exactly fit the company email structure as they would intend and [asked] would I mind if they gave me a different structure for my email,” Hart said. That’s kind of the HR people to help Samantha save a bit of face when starting a new job, so the thing she’s most known for, before meeting anyone, is her questionable email address. Sadly, Hart will probably have to deal with this whenever she gets a new job. Hopefully, she enjoys doing long stretches with her employers. This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated. The post Woman with unfortunate initials warning parents to think things through before naming their kids appeared first on Upworthy.

“Do you remember…the 21st night of September?” has been one of the most iconic song openings for decades, as the R&B hit by Earth, Wind and Fire perpetually serves as a catchy favorite for dance clubs, movie scenes and TikTok clips alike. However, “September” has also gained wild popularity among an unlikely group: pet cockatiels. One cockatiel in particular has taken a shining to the song to the point of obsession, much to the combined delight and chagrin of his owner. You see, Kiki doesn’t just like listening to the song, he sings and dances to it. Loudly. Over and over. At uncomfortable hours of the morning. Kiki’s owner has shared multiple examples of her pet bird reveling in his favorite song, and it’s hilarious every time. Watch: @kiki.tiel Send help plz wheres the off button on parrot #fyp #foryou #bird #cockatiel #parrotsoftiktok #birdsoftiktok ♬ original sound – Kiki the cockatiel But Kiki doesn’t even need anyone else around in order to sing his favorite song. Here he is singing and dancing all by himself when his owner left the room and left her camera running to see what he would do. @kiki.tiel Partying without me #cockatielsoftiktok #birds #fyp #for you ♬ original sound – Kiki the cockatiel As cute and hilarious as this is, it surely gets old after a while, right? It’s one thing to watch in a video—it’s got to be entirely another to hear it all the time at home. It’s also not just a Kiki quirk. Apparently, “September” is a “thing” among cockatiels. Other cockatiels have been known to love it and sing it, though not quite as well as Kiki does. Someone on Reddit asked why so many cockatiels love the song—one person even said it was basically the cockatiel national anthem at this point. No one knows exactly why, but this explanation by Reddit user nattiecakes is as good an explanation as any: “Yeah, cockatiels genuinely like the song in a way they don’t universally take to many other songs. My cockatiel is 17 and early in life basically seemed to max out his harddrive space learning a little bit of La Cucaracha, The Flintstones theme, the phrase ‘pretty bird,’ and this horrible alarm clock sound that is similar to the hungry baby cockatiel sound. We thought we could not get him to learn anything else because they do have some limits. Then ‘September’ came. Every cockatiel loved it. We decided to see if our cockatiel loved it. I sh*t y’all not, within a DAY he whistled the first three notes, which is really all that matters. He hasn’t been able to learn more, but he loves it. Now our African grey whistles it to him constantly. He used to reliably whistle La Cucaracha to our cockatiel when our cockatiel would get angry and upset, and our cockatiel would start singing instead and forget he’d been upset. But almost immediately our grey switched to using ‘September’ 90% of the time. Like, it’s so plain even to our grey that ‘September’ is the song to unlock a cockatiel’s better nature. I think the grey likes it a lot too, but he has many other songs he likes better. As for why cockatiels like this song so much… all I can guess is it really resonates with their cheery vibe. I think the inside of a cockatiel’s mind is usually like a disco.” It’s pretty clear that Kiki’s love for “September” is unstoppable. His owner even recorded him singing it in slow motion, which is really wild to watch:   @kiki.tiel #onthisday ♬ original sound – Kiki the cockatiel Rock on, Kiki. Just maybe not so early in the morning. You can follow @kiki.tiel on Tiktok for more Tiki musical serenades. This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated. The post Women’s pet cockatiel proudly belting out ‘September’ by Earth, Wind & Fire has people rolling appeared first on Upworthy.

In an update from a GNN story 15 months ago, this ‘hilariously bad’ artist has raked in thousands from his ‘dad paintings’, after receiving more than 430 commissions from around the world. The 42-year-old began the unusual side hustle accidentally, giving a gag gift to his wife, Kate, in 2024. She posted the funny artwork […] The post Update–Dad’s ‘Terrible’ Paintings Hilariously Earn Thousands in Commissions With 430 Requests Last Year appeared first on Good News Network.