+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
Family

A woman was ready to attend her college graduation, but her baby had other plans

What's better than a diploma? Her newborn baby.

jada sayles, baby born on graduation day, hospital graduation
Jada Sayles/Twitter

Jada Sayles got both a newborn baby and her college degree.

You know what they say about the best laid plans? Well, it's true. And no one knows that better than Jada Sayles. On May 15, Sayles was all set to graduate from Dillard University, a historically Black university in New Orleans. Around 4:30 a.m., she realized that her plans were about to change in a big way. Instead of getting ready for her graduation, she was in labor and being admitted to the hospital.

"I thought I was gonna walk across the stage to get my degree, instead I got my baby," Sayles tweeted, along with a series of photos. "My sweet face decided to make his way on MY big day (now his). Shoutout to my university for still bringing my graduation and degree to me."

That's right, even though her sweet baby kept her from walking the stage at her graduation, all was not lost. Her college stepped up and made sure that she was still able to experience her graduation to the fullest.

"Jada went into labor on Friday evening. Texted me around 4:30 am Saturday saying she was being admitted, & the baby was born on her graduation day, May 14th. So we rolled up to the hospital so I could finish my tenure in the most special way," Walter M. Kimbrough, president of Dillard University tweeted.

"I did something today I have never done before in 18 years as a college president. I conferred a degree in a hospital…" Kimbrough stated in another tweet. It's clear that he is a very involved and caring administrator.

He shared a video of his bedside speech, captioning the tweet: "I even did the tassel part of commencement! This really was a very sweet moment. I’ll never forget it."

Jada Sayles swapped her hospital gown for her graduation gown (and cap!) and stood in her hospital room to be officially declared a graduate. On Twitter, she shared a snapshot of her decorated graduation cap, which included balanced scales (she graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice), the phrase "Black girl magic" and a square for her sweet baby boy.

"I was scheduled to get induced Saturday at 5 p.m.," Sayles told New Orleans news outlet WDSU. "So after graduation, I was planning on heading to the hospital." Obviously, the baby, a boy she named Easton, had other plans.

"It happened so fast. I didn't even realize I was missing graduation because it was just such a fast labor."

Clearly, Sayles will have a story to tell her son many times for years to come. The special bond between a mother and her child is only made stronger by something like sharing this momentous occasion for them both.

From Your Site Articles
Top Splash

Flight attendant sits on the floor the entire flight to comfort distressed passenger

“He explained every sound and bump”

Courtesy of Molly Simonson Lee

Flight attendant sits on floor to comfort passenger

Not everyone enjoys flying. The level of non-enjoyment can range from mild discomfort to full blown Aerophobia, which is defined as an extreme fear of flying. While flying is the quickest way to get to far away destinations, for some people being that far off the ground is terrifying and they'd rather take their chances on the ground.

A passenger flying from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina to JFK International Airport in New York confronted that fear while flying with Delta. The woman, who is currently still unidentified expressed that she was nervous to fly according to Molly Simonson Lee, a passenger seated behind the woman who witnessed the encounter. Tight spaces don't make for much privacy, but in this case, the world is better for knowing this took place.

Keep ReadingShow less
delta
Science

Engineering students created a life-size 'Operation' game—with a fun twist on the fail buzzer

The game trades in tweezers for tongs and the anxiety-producing buzzer for an audio meme.

Courtesy of Washington State University

Students at Washington State University created a life-size Operation game.

Anyone who has ever played the game Operation likely feels a teensy bit of anxiety just thinking about it. The experience of painstakingly trying to extract the Charlie Horse with those tiny, wired tweezers with a steady hand, only to accidentally touch the metal side and get the lightning-like jolt of the buzzer is hard to shake. That's the stuff of core memories right there.

But what if you had a humongous game board the size of a real human, with life-size bones and organs to extract? What if instead of tweezers, you had large tongs as tools to perform your operation? What if instead of Pavlovian-style fail buzzers, the game produced a much less traumatic womp womp womp sound when you mess up?

Keep ReadingShow less
life-size operation game
Pop Culture

A man in the crowd yelled 'Marry me!' Her response was not exactly what he hoped for.

'Does that work out well for you, sir?'

Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches

This article originally appeared on 10.05.15


A fan of the Scottish synthpop band Chvrches got a bit more than he bargained for when he yelled to the stage.

"Marry me!" an unidentified man yelled out during a pause between songs.

"Pardon?" Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry responded, prompting the man to shout out, "Marry me! Now!"

Keep ReadingShow less
sexism
Joy

Alabama farmer paid pharmacy bills for strangers and kept it a secret until his death

"He just wanted to bless people.”

Photo by Zoe Schaeffer on Unsplash

Alabama farmer paid strangers' pharmacy bills in secret

There are still good people in the world, and a farmer in Alabama left a legacy of kindness in his small town. Hody Childress lived in Geraldine, Alabama, which is about 40 miles outside of Huntsville and for the last 10 years of his life he made anonymous donations to the local pharmacy. No, the pharmacy isn't a charity, so donations aren't something they're accustomed to receiving.

But Childress was on a mission to help his struggling townspeople with access to medications that may be essential. Pharmacies likely run into many people during the week or month that can't afford the pricey cost of some of their prescriptions. I've personally seen pharmacists look up prices from other pharmacies to find the cheapest cost for the customer, or use a GoodRx card to help offset the cost.

Keep ReadingShow less
alabama farmer
Joy

The reaction of these twins when one of them gets into Harvard is so wholesome

"I get so excited every time I get to talk about it because obviously Matthew worked so hard for this."

Vimeo

Reaction of these twins when one gets into Harvard is wholesome

You know how you are scrolling through your favorite social media app and you come across a video that just makes you do that big cheesy grin at your phone? Come on, you know that dorky grin I'm talking about. The one that makes your cheeks hurt and eyes swell up for a bit before you realize you're pushing your cart through the grocery store and people are looking at you weird. Yeah, that one - this video will do that to you.

You've been warned so you can't say you were unaware of the delight it would bring. Two teens, Matthew and Magdalena Myslenski, who just happen to be twins were doing the stressful ritual of opening up "the mail" to see if Matthew got accepted into his dream school. The mail is in quotes because teens don't receive paper acceptance letters anymore, they receive emails. Bonus points for no paper cuts.

Keep ReadingShow less
twins harvard reaction
Joy

He found a newborn squirrel in his driveway and raised it. Their relationship is adorable.

Robert "Bobby" T. Squirrel's personality is "about halfway between a cat and a dog."

@robertsquirrel/TikTok

Bobby the squirrel lives outside now, but still comes in for a human visit pretty much every day.

When Robert Milburn came across a tiny, hairless creature the size of his thumb in his driveway, he had no idea what it was. So he took it inside, wrapped it up to keep it warm and started Googling.

After figuring out it was a newborn squirrel that had probably fallen out of its nest, he put it back outside in a shallow box and waited to see if the mom would return for it. She did come to check it out, but then left it again. (Later, Milburn would find out that the baby squirrel had a mouth deformity which most likely made it unable to suckle properly.)

Milburn didn't think the wee one would survive, but he decided to do his best. He took it back inside and began feeding it puppy formula with a syringe every three hours, around the clock. He said it was "like having a newborn baby in the house."

Keep ReadingShow less