Welcome to RabbitBaby! Here you can track and follow the progress of our very own little RabbitBaby as it makes its way into our world. We will be posting milestones and images and sharing our thoughts up until the little bundle arrives (and possibly even afterward). Use the timeline scroll bar to advance the events list and click on an event to see the details.

-Jason

It went something like this:

Zoe: "Jason! Jason! I think I see a second line!"
Jason: "WHY ARE YOU WAKING ME UP."
Zoe: "I thought you'd want to know."
Jason: "Not at 6:30am."

I think he didn't really believe me. So that evening I bought a more expensive test and took it and got a clearer second line. It still took a couple days for him to believe it... I think, as you can see, he is actually very excited (or he wouldn't have made this awesome website). But not as much at 6:30am.

-Zoe

I had to fly to Australia only a few days after getting the positive test. It was nerve-wracking to be apart for two weeks so early after getting such exciting news. But everything ended up okay. I started feeling nauseous near the end of the trip, which is what started my unfortunate Thai food aversion (Australia is full of Thai food). This trip also included Baby's first visit to a nuclear reactor.

-Zoe

Today we made our pregnancy announcement on Facebook. If you have been keeping our secret for us (Thank you!) the rabbit is now out of the hat. It feels a little bit more real today now that we can talk about it openly with our friends.

-Jason

Today we had a regular OB checkup. We heard baby's heartbeat, which sounded nice and strong! I have been feeling really exhausted, and my doctor confirmed that all my blood tests looked fine and I'm probably just tired because I'm pregnant and my pollen allergies are really bad right now. I'm glad everything is looking good, I guess I just have to be patient and wait for that second trimester energy everyone talks about...

We also got an official date for our 20 week ultrasound where we should find out the gender: May 23! Can't wait!

-Zoe

Apparently RB loves the eggplant curry from our favorite indian restaurant. After chowing down on her favorite dish, Zoe was excited to start feeling the baby moving around. It was so exciting that I put my hand on her belly to see if I could feel some movement too. I was not disappointed. Within seconds, I felt a kick! Zoe says it was the strongest kick she has felt yet and that I was lucky to have caught it since so far nothing has really been noticeable from the outside. What a feeling!

As I expected all along, RB is already preparing for the 2026 world cup. :)

-Jason

We had another monthly check-up this morning and everything looks good. During the "listen to the baby's heartbeat" routine, he would not sit still. In fact, the Dr. was amazed by the strength of his kicks for a 23 week baby. He nearly kicked the wand right out of her hand!

-Jason

Today is Viability Day! If baby were born today, he would weigh about 1 1/2 pounds and would go to the NICU with a fair chance of surviving. It's a nice milestone to reach, but not an invitation! Rabbit baby, this is your mother, and I'm telling you to stay put for another 13-18 weeks. Preferably close to 16. Okay?

Today officially marks the start of third trimester!
13 weeks left til the due date.
10 weeks until full term.
6 weeks, 5 days until the big move.
2 weeks, 5 days until our house-hunting trip.
??? until my PhD. Let's hope ??? is not very long! I'm almost done with the first draft of my final chapter. Then it's just a short conclusion, some editing, formatting, and 3 signatures away from done!

Our 5 year wedding anniversary was today! We had a low key morning, followed by lunch at In n Out, a matinee showing of Harry Potter, and a marathon trip to Babies R Us to check things out and work on our registry. Finished off by a sushi dinner and chocolate cake for dessert. Mmm!

Rabbit baby was doing somersaults during the movie, which was confusing and kind of uncomfortable. Hope he settles back comfortably into his normal position. (Head down, feet on my right side).

The past 5 years have been great. (Actually, the past almost 11 years total!) What will our lives be like in another 5 years?

Today was our California baby shower. It was lots of fun and even featured a real baby (Declan)! We ate Chipotle, opened presents, and had a custom cookie-baking activity. We ended the night with a rousing game of "Bang!", which we received as a gift. Parents need toys too, not just babies! We will miss all our California friends!

We had a little bit of a scare this week when the doctors became concerned about my Braxton Hicks contractions. It is very normal to have them, but mine were showing up strongly on the contraction monitor and were fairly regular and often (~ every 5 minutes). I'm also starting to dilate a little (1cm), which can be normal at this point, or not. There is such a huge range of normal, and there's a lot that doctors still can't predict! Anyway, I had a fetal fibronectin test done and it came back negative, which is a really good sign that I shouldn't be going into preterm labor anytime in the next two weeks. Hooray!

We also had an ultrasound to check on baby's growth. He's a big one! His estimated weight is 5 lbs, 1 oz, which is in the 74th percentile for his age. His head is his most impressive feature, measuring the size of a typical 35 week 1 day fetus. I'm only 31 weeks 3 days!! For my sake, I hope it's squishy and not toooo huge when he comes out!!

As of 4:13pm today, it's official. I'm Dr. Boekelheide! (And I make Jason call me that too. And the baby once he's old enough.)

I got all 3 committee members' signatures, uploaded the pdf file of my thesis, and the library measured all my margins and page numbers and determined my thesis is anatomically correct. It's Phinished!

We survived the move! Our friend Dave helped us by flying with us and taking one of the cats under his seat. It was a stressful day but overall went better than I think we expected. The cats complained, but not too bad. There were no cat chase-downs in the airport. There was no dramatic labor-on-a-plane scene. Phew. We made it!

Irene! It wasn't too bad, really. We lost power for about 5 hours, which came with some loud BANGing noises. Jason slept through it but I lay awake all night. The next day we drove 20 miles to Ikea only to find out it was closed as it still didn't have power. Annoying! But not bad as hurricanes go. Just more excitement than we really needed 1 day after moving across the country!

That's right, there's exactly one month until the due date! We can expect to meet Rabbit baby sometime in the next 2-6 weeks. We've got most of the stuff we need, but it's all in boxes still, and his room is still covered in primer and plastic sheeting. We're trying to finish that off somehow in between our jobs, the interminable unpacking/moving chores, and trying to have a little fun in our last month before becoming responsible parents.

We got lots of advice from parents telling us to move before the baby, not after. Well here's my advice: don't move ever! :) It's gone a lot easier with the packers and moving company, but I still can't recommend it. Hopefully after this postdoc I'll get a permanent position and we can settle down somewhere for a long time.

We are busy preparing for Rabbit baby!

Today we started childbirth classes. We were tied for "oldest" couple in the class. One other couple has the exact same due date as us, but the rest are at least a month or two behind us! The instructor made fun of us for waiting so long and said we "may not make it to graduation" in 2 weeks... She also said by 36 weeks (tomorrow) she wanted us to have our car seat and have it installed in the car. We just ordered ours online today, and will install it as soon as it arrives in the mail... next week maybe?

We are pretty much done with shopping for baby. We even bought a package of newborn sized diapers to use in the hospital and when we first get home, before we start trying to use cloth diapers. But that doesn't mean we're ready! He still needs a room for all his stuff after all. And the crib won't do him much good sitting in the shipping box it arrived in...

Rabbit baby might also like arriving to a house that's not full of boxes... we'll see how that progresses over the next few weeks! It will be a race to the finish between Rabbit baby and the boxes.