Discovering a Name

Daniel and I had an exciting ultrasound appointment on Tuesday. I'd forgotten we were even scheduled for an ultrasound. A happy surprise. The purpose of this one was to try to determine the baby's gender. Earlier on in the pregnancy, we'd been content to be surprised, but circumstances being what they are, we changed our minds in order to allow us to enjoy this baby by name.

Even with my excitement at the "surprise" ultrasound, I wasn't very hopeful that we'd be able to find out. The baby is still in a breach position, sitting very low, and when they looked last time, he was crossing his little baby legs.

Not so much this time. The doctor checked three separate times and each time found evidence to the same end--we're having a little boy! There is fairly conclusive picture evidence of such, but I won't embarrass the little man.

Dr. H also took some other pics for us, showing us what he could. Little man was licking something for a while. Pretty cute. As you can see from the picture below, he was also holding his hand up by his head much of the time (rather like Daniel does when he's tired).

When we got home that night, we began the process of narrowing down name options. Our first choice was out. Although not necessarily so, Joy is generally thought to be a girl's name. My Uncle Joy would probably disagree, but Daniel and decided to go ahead and leave that one even though it was so fitting: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. -James 1:2-4

It took us a good 24 hours to decide finally, which is really a false statement on two accounts. First, we'd really been thinking about it ever since that first appointment when we heard about the baby's condition. Second, we realized as we were mulling it over and discussing that it wasn't so much our choosing as it was our discovering. 

We came to understand that this baby had been named from long ago. From before Daniel and I were born, this child had a name and a purpose. "Choosing a name" was really a process of God revealing his name to us. It felt like the most weighty "decision" I'd ever made. It may be in fact one of the most significant journeys God has taken me on--the road to discovering who God has declared this little one to be. What a heavy and yet light and joyful thing. 

After much seeking, we found it. His name was Ian Dominic. It means "God is gracious" and "of God; belonging to God" respectively. Amen to both.