In August 2022, Buttigieg revealed in a Medium post that the twins were born prematurely and had to spend two weeks in the hospital before they could go home. But one child also developed severe reflux, and both were eventually diagnosed with the respiratory virus RSV, which required one to spend another lengthy and terrifying period in a hospital.
“For us it just meant a nasty cold, but for premature infants like them it was a serious threat,” Buttigieg wrote.
“Parenting is lots of things, and one of those things is terror. You watch your infant, sedated and surrounded by wires and tubes and monitors and medical personnel coming and going constantly, and wonder how we could live in a universe where a few weeks could be all that a child gets on this earth,” he wrote.
Lis Smith, who worked on Buttigieg’s failed presidential campaign, said Pence’s comments at the Gridiron Dinner showed that he is “an unambiguous asshole.”