If you choose your baby's name when you're half asleep, this happens.

It had been one of those perfect nights, when you and your partner just “click”.

My husband and I had enjoyed a special date night – complete with romantic dinner, plenty of laughs and a moonlight walk along the beach.

We were happy, connected, and content. There had been no bickering or rush or stress that night.

And now, we were in bed, in that blissful state where you are drowsy and half-asleep, but still able to hold up a conversation. In fact, I’ve often found that the best conversations tend to happen while in that state.

My husband was half asleep too, with his hand over my growing belly. I was six months pregnant with our first child – a much-wanted son – and we couldn’t have been happier.

Except for one thing: a name.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Sealy Posturepedic. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words. 

You see, we just couldn’t agree. There we were, six months into the pregnancy, with not even some back-up names up our sleeve. We just seemed to have wildly different tastes in names and to be honest, we’d actually had some pretty big fights over it before this (I’m blaming my pregnancy hormones).

I’d always had the belief that if you are the one growing a small human and then birthing it, then you get dibs on the name. After all, I was going through all the morning sickness, the varicose veins and the labour, right? The least my husband could do was hand over naming rights.

But it turned out he had some really strong opinions.

He wanted to name our baby boy after his grandfather, who had fought for Australia in the war.

That’s right – he wanted to call our son Edmund. And while I thought it was a beautiful idea, I was not having a son called Edmund. Hence the fights.

So when my partner started murmuring about baby names, I braced myself. Here we go again, I thought.

“How about Thor? For the baby”, he said.

I nearly hit him, until I realised he was joking. So I joined in.

“What about Axel? As in Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop?’ I asked.

“No. I want Bruce. After the shark in Finding Nemo”, he shot back.

“Why not call him Jem – after Jem Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird?” I asked, fully expecting him to laugh out loud.

But the laugh never came. “Jem. Jem Pryor. I like it”, he said instead.

And then I just knew – I knew that was going to be my son’s name.

I always secretly liked the name Jem ever since I studied the book at school. But I never in a million years thought my husband would like it too. As you can guess from his Edmund suggestion, he was into traditional, English names. Names like James and Henry and Tom.

I had always liked literary names – but here we were, apparently on the brink of a compromise.

I fell asleep smiling that night. And the next morning, my smile was still fixed to my face. Because the first words my husband said to me that morning were “How is Jem this morning?”

It had been decided – finally – after one perfect, half-asleep conversation.

Three months later, Jem was born – and I’m happy to report that the name stuck and suits him perfectly. I love his name more and more every day. And we owe it all to that late-night inspiration.

What’s your favourite unique baby name?

 Here are some hipster baby names for inspiration…

We all do a lot to take care of our bodies during the day, but what are we doing to take care of it at night? Along with a healthy diet and exercise, a good night’s sleep is essential for your health and wellbeing. Good sleep is within our reach: every Sealy Posturepedic bed is designed to allow you to completely relax and recover. Sealy’s advanced Titanium coil design uniquely senses and responds to the shape of your body to deliver the correct support that’s right for you.