05/12/2026
At the beginning of December 2025, my husband got sick with what we thought was a cold. After about 5 days it seemed like he was getting better, then on night 6 he had a lot of trouble breathing - he said it felt like his throat was closing - and we rushed to the ER with him and our kiddos. It turned out that my husband had Strep, which is extremely dangerous for him because he was born with half a heart - hypoplastic left heart syndrome with fontan. They also discovered that he has mild congestive heart failure and fontan associated liver disease/cirrhosis. They found fluid buildup surrounding his heart, lungs, liver, and spleen. His spleen is also enlarged.
He was immediately admitted to the hospital and given an IV diuretic called Lasix to flush out the excess fluid. Our then 6 year old daughter and I stayed with him for the entire week he was admitted, and his dad brought our oldest two to visit us each day.
He has an amazing medical team monitoring him VERY closely and thoroughly. He's already had several CT scans and MRIs for his heart and liver and recently had a heart catheterization procedure that resulted in 4 stents being placed to widen his Fontan which increased his stamina (our kiddos love that he can play for longer stretches before needing to rest for a little bit) and relieved pressure off his liver.
He already had 5 lifetime medications after his initial mild congestive heart failure diagnosis, and immediately after the heart catheterization procedure a blood thinner was added for 3 months. He was also put on a permanent low sodium high fiber and high protein Mediterranean Diet, which our whole family is following with him.
It took some adjusting for the first month or two, but we've since found so many delicious recipes that meet all the requirements, which has helped him and the rest of our family actually enjoy this new normal diet now. He's doing so much better now, and we're all happier. Of course there's still the occasional family squabble here and there, but that's normal for any family, lol.
After almost 5 months of the new healthier Mediterranean Diet, we discovered, on my Daddy's birthday (May 7th), just 3 days before Mother's Day, that we're expecting and due in January 2027! 🤰🏻😄🥰💗 We told our kiddos first, then my daddy and my brother, then my husband's parents and his sister. Then announced it on our personal account and now here. ❤️
- Also "sympathetic pregnancy" is a real thing called Couvade Syndrome, and my husband started experiencing that yesterday. Thankfully the symptoms only lasted for a few hours. We'll see how tomorrow goes. I learned that typically it starts in the first trimester as early as 4 weeks, subsides in the second trimester, then returns in the third trimester and typically doesn't completely go away until sometime after the birth.
