Pete Buttigieg ‘thankful for all the love’ as newborn son spends his first Halloween in hospital
Pete Buttigieg (L), Chasten and Joseph. (Instagram)
Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten spent their first Halloween with their newborns at the hospital.
The US transportation secretary, who only recently welcomed twins Joseph August and Penelope Rose into his life, announced that his two-month-old son had been hospitalised.
“Happy Halloween from these #twinfrastructure safety advocates! ?? ??” wrote Chasten in an Instagram post on Sunday (31 October) that showed Joseph dressed up as an orange traffic cone.
After all, nothing is scarier than America’s failing and heavily rusted infrastructure system.
“As you can see, we’re spending this Halloween in the hospital,” Chasten added, referring to a second photograph of him and Pete holding Gus in their arms on a hospital seat.
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“Gus has been having a rough go of it but we’re headed in the right direction.”
Chasten did not go into any further detail about what undisclosed ailment prompted his son to be hospitalised but he thanked those who have been showing support to the family over the last few months.
Pete Buttigieg says his kids have grown ‘stronger, healthier and cuter’
“We’re so thankful for all of the love and support shown to our family these last few months,” Chasten, who is a former middle school teacher, added.
“And also, for the dedicated and kind medical professionals who have helped take care of our two little pumpkins as they’ve grown stronger, healthier and cuter. ?”
Buttigieg, 39, is the first openly gay cabinet official to become a parent while in office.
“We are delighted to welcome Penelope Rose and Joseph August Buttigieg to our family,” Buttigieg said in a statement on social media at the time, sharing a photograph of his daughter and son.
He and Chasten had announced just the month before that the couple was completing the process of becoming parents – they only found out they were having twins less than a day before their surrogate gave birth.
Pete taking four weeks of paid leave ignited a heaving debate over the nation’s threadbare support for new parents.
The White House had sanctioned his time off, but as Pete told The View, the option to do this should not be up to the parent or guardian’s good fortune or the graces of their employer.
“It’s helped us have a conversation about parental leave,” he told the panel, “every American ought to be able to get paid parental leave.”
“When parents take that parental leave,” he continued, “they need to be supported in making that choice.”
