+
upworthy
Family

A NICU nurse was so loving to their baby, the parents asked her to be godmother

She needed to be in his life.

nicu nurse, godmothers, austyn evans
via Pixabay

Lucky baby gets the most caring godmother.

It’s a little funny that there are people who make tremendous differences in our lives that we never speak to again when their job is done. People in the healthcare profession regularly save people’s lives and then, after we thank them, we're likely to never see them again.

That’s why this story is so touching. A family appreciated the work of a NICU nurse so much, they asked her to be part of the family.

Good Morning America reports that when Austyn Evans was pregnant with her son Conrad, she and her husband, Branden, learned that he had a rare birth defect known as lower urinary tract obstructions. The defect can be life-threatening, so Austyn and Branden moved from Florida to Houston in her third trimester so she and Conrad could be cared for at Texas Children's Hospital.

"It's a very bad diagnosis to get," Austyn told Good Morning America. “A lot of these kids do not survive past zero or they just survive a few days past birth."


As soon as Conrad was born he was rushed into the neonatal intensive care unit where he was cared for by Carly Miller, 27, a NICU nurse at the hospital.

“Carly was instantly charismatic and funny. She kept talking about how cute Conrad was,” Austyn told Today. “The way she talked to him when she was doing his vitals or she was taking blood, she was constantly talking to him in this really cute little mom voice and trying to be as comforting as she could even though he was extremely sedated.”

Conrad’s needs were so intense that he would often be Carly’s only patient. She regularly worked the night shift, so when Austyn would call, she’d hear about Conrad’s condition from Carly.

"She never started a phone call telling me all the bad. It was always, 'Oh my gosh, he's so cute,' or, 'All the nurses think he's so cute,' and then obviously I'd get the medical report," Austyn told Good Morning America. "It was such a small thing but it helped immensely."

The relationship meant the world to the Evans family because they were all alone in Texas.

“We were so isolated because of COVID and being away from our family,” Austyn told Today. “A relationship that was so professional over time became so personal to me.” When it came time for Conrad to be moved to a complex dialysis machine, Carly learned how to work it so she could remain by Conrad's side.

After six months of round-the-clock care, Conrad was finally able to go home with his family. Even though the family had moved on to the next stage of their lives, they knew they couldn’t walk away from the woman who meant so much to them.

“We kept everything as professional as we could in the NICU but just the conversations we had sitting in his hospital room or the victories that we celebrated and we cried over together were really important to me,” Evans told Today. “Thinking about leaving that place and having to never see Carly again was heart-wrenching.”

To make it official, the couple gave Carly some flowers with a card from Conrad with a note attached that read, "Will you be my godmother?"

Carly said yes.

"I just feel very honored," Carly told Good Morning America. "It's something I never expected and the fact that they wanted me to do that for him means the absolute world."

Pop Culture

SNL sketch about George Washington's dream for America hailed an 'instant classic'

"People will be referencing it as one of the all time best SNL skits for years.”

Saturday Night Live/Youtube

Seriously, what were our forefathers thinking with our measuring system?

Ever stop to think how bizarre it is that the United States is one of the only countries to not use the metric system? Or how it uses the word “football” to describe a sport that, unlike fútbol, barely uses the feet at all?

What must our forefathers have been thinking as they were creating this brave new world?

Wonder no further. All this and more is explored in a recent Saturday Night Live sketch that folks are hailing as an “instant classic.”
Keep ReadingShow less
Canva, @alyssacardib/TikTok

Alyssa Caribardi says the 'bird test' can be uses for romantic and platonic relationships

Even with all the fancy apps and preference based algorithms, dating isn’t always easy. It’s a challenge to find true and lasting compatibility, and to know whether a person truly has your best interests at heart, or is simply on their best behavior.

But, people find their ways to navigate romance, nonetheless. Be it through a series of simple questions or hard-and-fast red flags, there are some modern-day strategies that can be used to filter out true potential partners.

The “Bird Test” is one of those strategies.

Keep ReadingShow less

Woman refuses to change seats for mom and kids

Traveling with preteens and teens is a breeze in comparison to traveling with little ones but as a parent you still want to sit near your kiddos in case they need you for anything. If you've traveled on an airline in the last several years, you know it's much cheaper to chose the basic seats in the main cabin.

There's nothing different about these particular seats other than the airline sort of randomly selects your seat and if you're traveling alone, that's really not a bad deal. The risk gets to be a little higher if you're traveling with a party that you'd like to keep together - like your children. One mom took the risk and banked on a stranger accommodating...that's not quite how it played out.

Keep ReadingShow less

Woman's sleep walking habits has people in tears from laughter

Let's be honest, most folks have no idea what they're doing in their sleep. Unless you're tossing and turning, you're blissfully unconscious for approximately six to eight hours if you're lucky. You have no clue if you stole the covers from your partner to wrap up like a human burrito or if you sat up abruptly to do the Macarena because you were dreaming of dancing at a friend's wedding.

Most people are likely doing nothing more exciting that snoring, drooling or accidentally backhanding their partner if they have one. There are some people that become chatter boxes when they're sleeping whether its coherent sentences or jumbled nonsense. But there are those rare ones that not only want to chit chat while they snooze but get up to do things that they may consider strange.

Keep ReadingShow less

Lizzie Ens opens up about her Amish past.

Leaving the Amish community to live in the outside world has to be a major shock. Overnight, one has to go from a world powered by horses and buggies to one ruled by technology.

Lizzie Ens, 36, left the Swartzentruber Amish community at 19 and has done a great job transitioning to a completely different lifestyle. She was able to get her high school diploma, become a certified health coach and founded Undiet Yourself.

She’s also become an influencer on TikTok with over 183,000 followers.

Keep ReadingShow less
Photo by Dick Thomas Johnson/Wikipedia, @prattprattpratt/Instagram

Pratt's question was prompted by wife Katherine going through her old childhood trophies.

Some parenting questions are simply universal, transcending the normal alienating barriers. And whether or not to hold onto certain mementos is one of them.

Whether it's more noble to let childhood awards, artwork, quizzes and certificates stack up in storage boxes for years, to be opened for a nostalgic romp down memory lane at a later time, or simply let them go in the name of decluttering? Or is the answer somewhere in between?

This is the conundrum nearly every parent faces. Even celebrity ones, apparently.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” star Chris Pratt recently found himself wondering this very thing as he watched his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger going through her personal treasure trove of trophies from her own childhood.

Keep ReadingShow less