A Rose By Any Other Name?

Long before the kids come, you dream about what you will name them. In our six years of waiting, we threw around tons of names, but never settled on any of them. It wasn't until the night before we found out that Beulah would be a girl that we settled on her name. You can read the story of how we came to that decision and the significance of her name here.

But, the other day, I picked up an old baby name book that I got when we first started TTC (trying to conceive) to see if Beulah was in there. The index took me to a section called "So Far Out They'll Probably Always Be Out". What? I think I'm offended! Well...maybe not. I mean, we knew when we picked it that every Beulah we'd heard of was either 90 or dead. We were excited about the fact that there wouldn't be a ton of Beulah's in her classes at school. And, most of the reactions we got when we revealed her name were positive. One friend even said that she wished it was her name! Now that's a compliment!

But, this is what the book said.

When you talk about baby names, there are two words that are very risky to use: always and never. After all, in the first edition of this book, we stated firmly that two names that would never come back were Raymond and Murray. Well, since then, two hip medial stars--Jack Nicholson and Lisa Kudrow--have used them for their sons, and others have resurrected such long-slumbering selections as Clara and Ella and Lorraine and Renee and Zelda and Wolfgang, just as Elijah and Isaiah and Abigail are making their way up the popularity charts, and we have a nonmouse movie star named Minnie. Nevertheless, although it is with some trepidation, we submit the following list of names we're pretty sure are so far out they'll never come back as baby names. Just don't remind us of what we said when Hester and Herman make it to the top of the list in the year 2020.

Well, I hate to tell ya, Linda and Pamela, but my mom, brother-in-law, and neighbor's names are all on that list! (OK, maybe I am a little defensive.)

At the doctor's office, the nurse asked us how we came up with the name Beulah. We explained that it came from Isaiah 62. Afterwards, she called her "Bella" several times. Then she said, "I keep calling her Bella, but it's Beulah, isn't it? I think I like Bella, but I respect Beulah." Ha ha! Andy and I quote that to each other anytime we need a good laugh.

Parents.com did a survey asking parents, "Do you regret giving your baby the name you did?"
91% No, I still love it.
3% Now that we have a nickname, I like it better.
6% I'd have chosen something different in hindsight.

I have to say, I'm with the 91%.

What's in a Name?

As you know, we have named our sweet little girl Beulah Grace. I mentioned in a previous post the meaning behind Beulah. But, I've not talked about Grace.

All of my grandparents passed away by the time I was three. I didn't get a chance to know them or really understand that grandchild / grandparent relationship. We are so glad Beulah will get the chance to know both sets of grandparents!

Grace was my great-grandmother. She lived well into my teen years and we visited her every couple of years in South GA. She was an amazing cook, well known for her pecan (pee-can) pies. Yum, Yum!! I didn't know too much about her, but she was the only grandparent I knew. My mom says she had quite a colorful mouth. :)

It's kind of neat that we had a relative named Grace, but that's not why we picked the name. To see the real meaning of Grace in our lives, please click on the link to my Infertility and Adoption blog for the NEW post, which explains it.

It's a GIRL!!

If I could express my excitement in characters on a computer screen, I'm afraid it would come out like this @#%^&*!  I am refraining from putting an infinite number of exclaimation points at that end of this sentence:  IT'S A GIRL!!!  (Could you tell by the changes to the blog?)  Our poll results?  17 people (38%) voted it was a girl.  27 people (61%) voted it was a boy.

I don't know how I knew it would be a girl (see last night's post), but I did.  The greatest blessing of all is her great health!  The tech said everything looked "normal".  We saw the four chambers of the heart, the brain, liver, kidneys, bladder, 10 fingers, 10 toes, spine, ribs, etc. and she is just perfect!  She is still measuring a week ahead of schedule, but they're not planning to change the due date.  She's the most beautiful sight we've ever seen!  Praise the good LORD!!  I told Andy that he was glowing.  He's worried about having to give her away one day.  :)

And now for the name reveal...drum roll please...

Her name is Beulah!  When you get a chance, read Isaiah 62.  I cried when Andy read it to me last night.  It has so much significance to us.  Beulah is the new name God gives Zion when he redeems Israel.  It also says in verse 4, "No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate."  That's what we were through six years of infertility.  Not anymore, Hallelujah!!  Verse 3 says, "You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God."  That's our prayer for Beulah.  

We're still toying with the middle name, but we tend to say Beulah Grace.  I had a great-grandmother named Grace.

I'll post the newest video of our beautiful Beulah after I've had a chance to talk to my friend Greg, the computer whiz.  :)

I didn't sleep well last night.  I dreamed that my clock went off at 6:30 and so I turned it off.  As I was laying there thinking about our ultrasound, I fell back asleep and woke up at the time of our appointment.  My mom was here with us (in my dream), so I made her call the doctor while Andy and I frantically got ready to go.  I kept saying, "This was supposed to be our anatomy scan.  We were supposed to find out the gender today!"  It was more of a nightmare than a dream.  I was happy that it wasn't true.  I woke up early.  :)

Since she (Did you hear that? I said SHE!) started moving a couple of weeks ago, the bonding has been so much easier.  And now that she has a name, it's even more-so.  We couldn't be happier or more thankful for this incredible blessing.  Now, I'm going to go praise our LORD for the miracle of our precious baby, Beulah.