The Name Game

Bradford and I feel so excited and blessed to share our baby girl’s name with you all.

Grace Caroline Zygmontowicz

••••Grace••••

The meaning:

The name Grace is derived from the Latin word “Gratia,” meaning “the grace of God”. We believe God has truly graced us with baby Grace.

The story:

One thing my therapist has had me do throughout this infertility process is find a lesson in every single cycle. The lessons I’ve learned (in one word) are hope, faith, trust, resilience, surrender, and grace. Grace for others (bc wowwww that muscle was exercised throughout all this as people learned about infertility alongside me, to no fault of their own) and, most importantly, grace for myself. Through infertility I’ve given myself grace where I never would have before. I’ve loosened up in ways I was wound tight before. I’ve grown and been changed in some of the hardest yet best ways on my journey to her. Grace just made sense. I’ve always loved the name and thought it would make a beautiful middle name, but it wasn’t until this chapter of my life that I felt attached and called to Grace as a first name. Bradford instantly loved it and we had our embaby named while she was just a little embryo frozen in time. We began praying for her by name leading up to my transfer date. Grace taught me grace.

Additionally, one of my dear friends and biggest helps through infertility has a beautiful angel baby who’s middle name is Grace. Although she didn’t get to take a breath this side of heaven, I know she’s watching over my Grace now.

••••Caroline••••

The meaning:

The name Caroline also means 'strong, free woman' or 'song of happiness' in French and German.

The story:

Grace Caroline is our strong little girl who defied the odds. We had been told nearly a year ago today that we had a very low chance of having a biological child, and that IVF wasn’t going to be an option for us. Fast forward 4 months and my doctor said that although I wasn’t getting pregnant via IUI, my body was showing signs that it could be a good IVF candidate. After so many “I’m sorry, you’re not pregnant” calls, getting that sweet call saying I was pregnant, after 33 straight months of negative tests, was most definitely our “song of happiness.”

Additionally, Caroline is a family name for me. My sister’s first name, my gram’s middle name, and my great grandmother’s first name. Three strong women related by blood who Grace will take after.

When choosing the middle name, it wasn’t as clear cut as Grace. We were between 2 that we loved. God sent us a sign that it was meant to be Caroline. Prior to my transfer, my sweet friend Laura had her church make a prayer quilt for me. When she presented it to Bradford and I she apologized because they had accidentally written on the name patch that this blanket was made for “Bradford and Caroline Zygmontowicz” (at the time, Laura didn’t know my sister’s name was Caroline, and she doesn’t know my sister, so it wasn’t a mistake like that). Bradford and I immediately started crying. I’m sure she thought that we were upset (I later told her why we cried-ha) but we knew in that second that THAT was our sign. Laura left and Bradford closed the door, looked at me, and said “it’s Caroline.” We just knew. We also felt so strongly that from this (and so many other signs) our little frozen embaby was going to be our daughter. And we knew then that she’d be Grace Caroline.

Thank you for praying for our baby and coming along for the journey from baby Z to baby girl, and now, our sweet daughter Grace Caroline.