What's In A Name?

Trent Michael DiMillo

Todd and I had the HARDEST time coming up with a name. We went back and forth for months with a bunch of different names. We liked Tanner for a long time, and then it just didn't seem right. Todd liked Taj, I hated it, I liked Tristan, Todd didn't, this was the story of our lives for a while. We just couldn't agree. Every time I had a name, he shot it down and vice versa. It became extremely annoying. We were fighting, like really getting into "heated discussions" on what we should name our baby.

When we were pregnant the 1st time, we KNEW what we were going to name our baby, if we had a boy. We LOVED the name Trent. We had the name picked out years before we were even married. I loved the name Mason, so when we found out we were having a baby boy, it was a no brainer. We knew it would be Trent Mason. Unfortunately God saw fit to call that baby to heaven early and took him from us when I was 24 weeks pregnant. We had his remains cremated and we named him the name that was rightfully his, Trent Mason DiMillo.

When we were pregnant with Taelyn, we knew she was going to be Taelyn Mylanah. That also was like an no brainer, we knew that was her name, there was really no argument, no discussion, that is just what it was. With this baby, we just couldn't figure out what we wanted. I think we went through every name in the world and nothing fit. After many, many arguments Todd and I decided that we would just wait until we saw him before we gave him a name. This way, we wouldn't have to worry about it and we could save ourselves some unwanted stress and arguing.

I had LOTS of people suggest names and quite a few people said we should name him Trent, those who didn't know our history, I politely told them that we lost a son and that was HIS name. Those who knew our history, I was not so polite, I actually was offended and hurt. I gave the analogy, "If you lost a son and had another, would you give them the name of the son you lost???" After I put it that way, it was like a brush of understanding passed over them and they didn't continue any further.

Todd and I stuck to what we said, we didn't talk about it and when asked (Which was like 20 times a day) "Have you decided on a name?" We would just answer with, "No, not yet, we are waiting until we see him to name him." People really didn't believe us, they thought we had a name and we just didn't want to reveal it. I am so not that person, really, if we had a name, I would have no problem telling people what it is. WE REALLY DIDN'T HAVE A NAME!!!

I was secretly stressing about giving him a name. I prayed about it daily and asked God to send me a sign of some sort of what I should name the baby. As my induction date got closer, I felt like the pressure was on even more. I had a dream the night before we went in and I was in the hospital and I was hold the baby and he looked just like Trent did and it was almost as if Trent was telling me to use his name. Was this the sign I was looking for? Was this God's way of telling me that I should use Trent? I couldn't. I didn't tell Todd about my dream because we pinky sore we wouldn't talk about it until he was born, so I didn't.

During the whole long process called labor and delivery, my dream was in the back of my mind and I was really worried about it. While I was pushing, I was told that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck and I needed to stop pushing. I was freaking out because that is exactly the way Trent died. He got wrapped around his umbilical cord in the womb and he lost his life line. THIS was the sign I was looking for. I still didn't talk to Todd about it. After the baby was out and cleaned up, he was brought to me and he looked exactly like Trent. I looked at Todd and he looked at me with tears in his eyes and it was decided. There really was no discussion. We just knew that his name should be Trent, after his brother who we lost before him. Todd decided to give him his middle name, Michael so Trent Mason would have his own middle name and Trent Michael would have his own middle name as well. It was really an emotional moment, but it really just felt right to name him Trent. He came into the world in the same way Trent was taken out, so I'm introducing to the world Trent Michael DiMillo.