Each week, the TODAY Parents team highlights a favorite baby name or set of sibling names. It may be unique, trendy, newsworthy, classic, or just ... fun! And there will always be a fascinating story behind it.
When she was 9 weeks pregnant with her third child, California mom Kelly Coste was told that the baby might have Down syndrome.
“When I heard that, I kind of knew and had this acceptance, even though it wasn’t confirmed,” she tells TODAY.com.
“I’ve always been a very faithful person — I’m Catholic — and rooted in that faith is knowing that we are not in control and that it really is God’s plan at the end of the day,” she continues.
Because she and her husband Stephan decided not to find out the baby’s gender, she compiled a list of boy names and girl names.
“We’re big mountain people. We love to ski,” she says. And whenever she would show her older kids — son Carter, 7, and daughter Brooklyn, 2 — photos of their family trips to Telluride, Colorado, one word kept popping up in her phone’s geotags: summit.
“It just kept showing up!” Coste says.
Knowing that using the word summit as a name would be quite unusual, Coste was nervous to present the idea to her husband, who she jokes is better at vetoing names than suggesting them. Luckily he was very receptive.
Then they had to choose a middle name.
Because the couple had first met on Mason Street in San Francisco, they almost used the name Mason for their first son. And then when Coste realized that they met on Mason Street on March 21, which happens to be World Down Syndrome Day, they knew it was a no-brainer to use the street’s name for their third child.
Aside from a Down syndrome diagnosis, doctors assured the parents that the baby didn’t have any additional medical concerns. Even so, Coste, who had hoped to give birth at home, made a “game time” decision to head to the hospital when she was 9 centimeters dilated.
When the baby came roaring into the world on August 31, just 20 minutes after they reached the hospital, Coste felt more sure than ever that the name Summit Mason Coste was a perfect fit.
And yes, he was born with an extra chromosome.
“There were so many things at the end of my pregnancy that were very stressful,” Coste shares. “When he came, I could breathe. It was the peak of the entire experience. The name’s meaning was just so significant and special for so many reasons.”
Coste’s intuition was right: unbeknownst to prenatal doctors, Summit did need hospital care. His oxygen saturation was low enough to merit a NICU stay that is hopefully nearing the end.
The entire experience has been both “really hard and incredibly beautiful,” Coste says, noting the overwhelming outpouring of love and support from her community.
“He’s so deeply loved, and he’s already one of the greatest blessings of our lives,” she says.
When announcing his birth on Instagram, Coste wrote, “Summit, you are not a different version of the baby we prayed for. You are the baby we prayed for ... Our greatest climb and sweetest arrival.”
