Thanks for all your good wishes! My poor husband basically didn’t sleep last night, getting a panic attack whenever he was about to fall asleep. Which is probably a fairly normal reaction after being told that there might, possibly, be something wrong with one’s heart, but not helpful for getting the much-needed rest. I’m sure he also has some unresolved sadness about losing the girls; who wouldn’t, 5 short months out. And probably the fact that I’m pregnant again, while wonderful, also raises all sorts of worries in him. (I recently got an email about “7 fears of expectant fathers”, and thought like, I’m fairly sure his main fear isn’t listed in there…)
I stayed home with him today (luckily my job lets me do that) to be there just in case, and for moral support. When we took a nap in the afternoon, he still struggled to fall asleep, while I slept soundly for 2.5h… but he did get some sleep, so I hope we are on a path to improvement.
Conceptionally challenged 
sounds like your husband’s anxiety is really high right now. It’s the most awful feeling to be very anxious/panicked, and I hope he can feel more calm and settled very soon. Glad you were able to stay home and rest together.
It’s awful, and a vicious circle hard to get out of. I hope spending some time together helped.
I used to have panic attacks before falling asleep…they’re the worst! You get jerked awake by a racing heart, ugh it’s awful. I really hope he gets better soon, but I know there’s a lot on both your plates right now. At least you got to enjoy some time together.
I’ve had those, too – and I wish I had a way of convincing him that it gets better, because that can be so hard to believe in the moment. (Actually it is getting better, fortunately.)
I hope they find something easy, as in ‘here, take this low dose of something and you’ll be just fine’, which I feel might be more reassuring than ‘it’s idiopathic’ (you know the joke: you have a pathology, and your doctor is an idiot- not always true, but usually funny). Peaceful thoughts towards both of you.
I love that explanation :)
He had a pretty good doctor in the ER, who actually gave him his email address, and they’ve exchanged several messages, which serves moral support if nothing else.
So much stress. I’m sorry your husband is struggling right now. Is there anything he can take to help his anxiety levels? What about trying Melatonin to try helping him sleep? It’s a natural sleep aide. Hope things smooth out eventually and his heart troubles end up being nothing too serious.
Fortunately it looks like his sleep is getting better, if not we’d look into things to help with that.
Oh man, really scary. I am so sorry. When is his next appointment?
He’s supposed to go and see his primary care doctor next week, though honestly I’m not sure what that will be good for – he now has a monitor for long-term EKG measurements, and will see a cardiologist once that is off and evaluated… mainly I’m hoping that nothing acute happens before that appointment, and that the measurements come back good. It is yet another waiting game.