What's in a name? (part four)

Grace Josephine

2005. It was the day of the ultrasound. Jill was in town and was going to join the girls, CJ, and me for the viewing of the baby and his/her private parts in order to determine our path in life....FOUR girls?? or a little buddy, whose name had been picked out since 1998.

Our beautiful baby nursery was looking a little worn out after 3 back to back babies, and Jill and I had decided to go out after the ultrasound to buy gender appropriate new bedding for the crib...would we get to do that Nascar theme CJ and I had dreamed about?

Even before knowing the gender, I had resurrected Paige Michele as the potential girl name. Even though it was technically not my turn this time, I used the argument that I didn't really get my turn last time since he completely refused my name choice, and I further argued that had we had a boy any of those three other times there would have been absolutely no discussion about the name...it had been chosen by him and cemented in stone in 1998 with our first pregnancy. I got no say even though I had a boy name in my head that I really loved better than the name he wanted.

Anyway...it was a short lived resurrection, because I quickly learned that the aversion remained..."Paging Paige Bragg, Paging Paige Bragg"....is that really so offensive??

So, back to the ultrasound...we had been through this 3 times before. I would never even consider waiting until the birth to find out who any of my babies were! I wanted to know them, name them, imagine them, plan for them, while I carried them safe and sound in my womb. Week 20 of pregnancy was always my favorite, because I would get to know who my baby was!

There I was, up on the table, goo squirted on my belly, Jill, CJ, Evie, Mady, Sarah all gathered around to see the little baby emerge on the screen. I am feeling excitedly anxious...I just want to know already! Now remember, I had seen this three times already...he goes for the money shot and before he even says anything I scream "Its a girl! I can totally see it!" Ultrasound man confirms what I already knew, we all laugh, CJ lets his last remaining shred of hope for a little Joe fall to the ground, and we all enjoy checking out all the perfect body parts of our new little daughter and sister during the rest of the ultrasound.

Our boy name had remained the same since the first pregnancy...Joseph Edward...Joseph is CJ's middle name, and Edward was his grandfather's name. Boy, did he love that name...he would practice calling out "Number 31, Jooooooooeeeeeeeee Brrrraaaaggggg" to the hockey rink, and show me how impressive it would sound in introductions..."Joe Bragg. Nice to meet you." (For the record, I liked Paul Michael.)

In light of this and given the fact that Paige Michele was a child I would not be having with this husband, I suggested Josephine for a girls name, in homage to our little buddy, Joe, that God thought we did not need. Josephine was also my late grandma's middle name. Plus, I thought Josie would be a cute nickname. Ah, but alas, "No. It just isn't the same", was CJ's comment. Poor guy.

We had also discussed Grace as a first name before the ultrasound. We both liked it and it was especially poignant for us due to some circumstances a couple years earlier where God's grace had poured mightily down on us and we really felt God had given this "love child" to us to continue showing us His abounding Grace. With that in mind we were pretty much in agreement that we were going to choose that name if it was a girl, although I couldn't think up a middle name to save my life and thought it needed to be a more dramatic name sandwiched between two one syllable names Grace / Bragg. And I didn't like how Grace Michele sounded.

So, after the ultrasound, Jill and I went to lunch. We're discussing finding new girl nursery bedding and contemplating the perfect middle name to go with Grace. I had filled her in on our quest for coming up with another girl name and we talked about our little would be Joe. Suddenly she says, well, what about Grace Josephine? Grace Josephine! Yes! It was so obvious! How did I not come up with it on my own?? Loved it, loved it, loved it! It was a beautiful, old, three syllable name that flowed perfectly with the first and last name...it fit with the other "old" names of the older girls, it was my grandma's middle name, and it reminded us of our boy name and God's humor and perfect plan in blessing us with four girls.

On our birth announcement we put these perfect words...From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another. John 1:16

Here is Grace Josephine with her daddy.