family

Many people who know me in real life probably also know that my white lionhead, Baby, is my entire world.

I first got him off of Craigslist when I moved to upstate New York for my first post-college job. He was my greatest companion when I had none in a stranger new place away from family and friends. The only times we’ve been separated for more than a day have been for maybe one vacation and a few of Baby’s emergency hospital visits for GI stasis.

So when my husband and I found out I was pregnant, we were a little nervous about how our changing situation would play out.

Would we still have enough quality time to spend with Baby? I’d pet him for hours each day, especially since I worked from home and didn’t need two hands to click my computer mouse.

Would Baby be jealous? He’s been an only child so far and didn’t even love the idea of having another rabbit sibling.

Preparing Baby for the newborn and hospital stay

At about the 8 month mark of the pregnancy, my husband and I came up with an action plan for making sure Baby was taken care of while we were in the hospital.

Our usual babysitters, my parents, were more than willing to help out. And we had a note with care instructions ready to go.

We also wanted to include Baby in the lead-up to the birth. This included the mini photoshoots we did at home.

We had our baby in mid-February and spent two days in the hospital

We didn’t do much to prep Baby for the screaming of a newborn. Baby won’t flinch at my husband yelling while playing video games, but if I sneeze, it’s a total disruption to whatever he’s doing. We knew his reaction to a baby would ultimately be a toss up.

Checking in on Baby during the hospital stay

This was definitely one of those situations where I am 1000% grateful I bought a pet cam years ago.

During our two-day hospital stay, I was able to periodically check our Wyze cam to see how he was doing. He’s had a few bouts of stasis, so it was really important to me that I could still monitor him. Even though our absence threw off his routine anyway, I would at least be able to tell if he was eating the food my parents were dishing out.

It was absolutely adorable to see him eating hay, making a mess, jumping into his litter box, and napping. Even though I couldn’t be there with him, it took some of the anxiety away and made me feel like we weren’t forgetting him now that we had a human baby to worry about.

Navigating the coming home chaos

Coming home was a whole other adventure!

On the hospital, you at least get some breaks. They may take the baby away for 15 minutes here and there for testing, and bring him back nice and calm.

But at home, you’re on your own!

Our usual daily routine was completely thrown off, replaced by the needs of our human child. Between the screaming and the breastfeeding and the diaper changing and the burping, it was almost impossible to give Baby the real attention he deserved. Because the baby kept us up at all hours, there wasn’t really a start or end to our days. That meant we missed his morning puzzle feeder routine and barely made the late night veggie snack platter time.

The one trade-off was that we camped out in the living room. Because we could supervise him 24/7, Baby was able to start free roaming all the time. Typically he’d only free roam during the day (for his own safety), so this was a big upgrade for him.

At first, Baby was completely indifferent to our newborn. He was far more excited about us finally being home to let him out of his playpen. He did zoomies for about a half hour straight!

Slowly, Baby has been taking an interest, but it’s still very passive. If we’re changing our baby on the ottoman, Baby might come up to check it out. Or if he happens to be there already, he won’t be too bothered by the screaming.

Developing a routine that worked for our family

The first week or so, there was no routine. Everything was dictated by the hunger and bowel movements of our newborn. We couldn’t even get through a 20 minute tv show without having to pause five times (ultimately giving up entirely).

We tried to get to Baby as much as we could. Unfortunately shedding season must have begun while we were in the hospital, because his fur was just flying off!

After a week, things started to level out. Our newborn started sleeping for longer stretches, giving us a chance to breath. We were able to use some of those stretches to give Baby all the attention he wanted.

I could go back to petting him for 30 minutes at a time. We were also able to get back into our morning and night feeding routine again.

It wasn’t the same, but it’s what we could manage.

Trying our best

During the whole process, I felt so so guilty that I wasn’t giving Baby all the love he needed. I definitely cried a few times mourning our past life together.

I can only compare it to people who have multiple children and feel guilty they’re neglecting the emotional needs of their older children.

Having a human baby is a serious life change. It can take a while to adjust, and we’re still a work in progress ourselves!

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When people adopt animals, they oftentimes say something along the lines of, “[insert pet name here] rescued me!” Although this mushy cliche makes my eyes roll to the back of my head, I have to agree with it. I rescued my rabbit from a lonely life in a cage. But my rabbit saved me from a lonely life in my apartment.

The Backstory

To understand this adoption adventure, you have to know a little more about me. I grew up with two sisters, so I always had “built-in friends.” When I went to college, there were always roommates, friends, and activities to keep me busy. I was never really alone.

rabbit stretching near a sliding glass door — The only good thing about that apartment was the giant sliding glass door. And even that needed a rabbit to optimize the experience.

Then it was time for the real world. I got a job as a news producer four and a half hours from home. My family helped pack all of my things and drove up to move me into a good sized apartment in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

When I first walked in, I have to admit, I was devastated. The galley kitchen was small. There was a wooden balcony, covered in spider webs (spiders are my phobia). The lighting was terrible. Compared to the beautiful, four bedroom home I was used to, this apartment was dingy. It was definitely “first world problems.” But having an unwelcoming apartment on top of leaving my family was too much. I basically had to stop myself from lamenting to my parents, “How can you leave me in this hole???”

I dreaded my impending doom, returning to my empty apartment after my first day at work… alone… with no one… by myself.

Hatching A Plan

While my parents were still helping me move, I started planning Operation Heartbeat (basically making sure there was one other living creature in that apartment, so it wouldn’t be a nightmare). I had always known I wanted to adopt an animal and made sure my apartment was pet-friendly.

I don’t love cats, so that was a no. A dog would take time to adopt and learn how to take care of from scratch. My new job would put me on a weird schedule, so there just wasn’t time for me to train a dog.

A rabbit would give me the perfect balance of animal love and personal space. Our family has had rabbits since I was in elementary school, so I knew I would have no problem taking care of one on my own.

I looked on Craigslist to see if there were any rabbits available nearby. A family was selling their small, white lionhead bunny.

The Craigslist Process And Not Getting Murdered

On Monday morning, I waved my family goodbye and headed off to my first day at work. Blah, blah, blah excited for work and meeting people. But in the back of my mind, I was really just thinking about that rabbit.

I emailed the family to see if they could do a safe exchange at the local police station. It was a no go. There were kids in the house, and some family member recovering from surgery. Although I wanted this rabbit sooo badly, I also didn’t want to get murdered by a copycat Craigslist killer.

In the end, my bunny greed overcame my fears. I headed to the house and called my parents. They stayed on the line as I walked inside.

Meeting My New Bun

The family seemed nice enough, but it was clear they had no real experience with rabbits. The white bunny was in a decent sized cage but didn’t have any place to run around. There was a dog in the house, and it seemed like the young kids had lost interest in the “less interesting” pet.

bunny sitting in the litter box — Baby didn’t have any toys when he was adopted.

It was honestly the best $20 I have ever spent.

The rabbit was scared and ran into the little hidey hole. I felt so badly for the poor thing and knew I would smother the bun with love! I gave the mother $20 for the bun, the cage, a water bottle, a dog food dish, a new bag of pellets, a small bag of hay.

Some people could say I rushed the decision and should have adopted from a reputable animal shelter. But I wouldn’t change a thing about my bunny buying story. An ad on Craigslist and a fear of being alone brought me a loving companion during a new, scary stage in my life.

Neither of us have been alone since.

How did you come upon your own bunny ol’ pal? Share your story in the comments!