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Local LGBTQ Influencer Couple Documented Starting a Family on Instagram

Aidan and Heather Silva's daughter Atlas will be four months old this month.

 
Aidan and Heather Silva holding their daughter Atlas on her first Thanksgiving

Starting a family isn’t easy, and for LGBTQ folks, having children can require overcoming additional barriers.

Aidan and Heather Silva know this experience firsthand. Three years after getting married on July 2, 2016, the Texas influencer couple began trying to have children through intrauterine insemination.

Aidan, a transgender man, and Heather, a cis woman, went to the Aspire Houston Fertility Institute, where a doctor decided to use Heather’s egg and sperm from a donor to start their family. The process took over a year due to COVID-19 restrictions, and because the pregnancy didn’t immediately take. 

“It was a very long, emotional process, and it was just a little lonely,” Heather says. “But we had each other.”  

Fortunately, after their fourth attempt over six months, they received a call that the insemination was successful. “It was a beautiful surprise. I almost didn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Really? For sure, really? Oh God, what do I do now?’” Heather recalls. 

Their daughter, Atlas Orion Silva, was born at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston on October 26, 2021. After several months of documenting Heather’s pregnancy online, Aidan revealed to his over 34,000 Instagram followers that Atlas suffered from several complex heart defects and would have to stay in the hospital for surgeries and monitoring. Heather shared similar updates with her 5,000-plus followers.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Captain Aidan (@captain_aidan_silva_)

Still, the couple was confident in Atlas’ recovery. “The fact that she was able to become full term, at a healthy weight, and crying at birth were all amazing signs of a strong baby,” Aidan posted on October 30. “There is no sure time of recovery or estimation of when we can bring her home. Ultimately, Heather and I aren’t looking to rush anything and want her to be completely healthy and ready.”

After 10 weeks of being monitored at Children’s Memorial Hermann, Atlas was released. Her parents are grateful that she has come out the other side of her ordeal stronger. 

“She was the healthiest baby in the pediatric cardiac unit,” Heather says. “Even with her infection, she was happy and active. It was mind-blowing to all the doctors. She had sepsis, and she was smiling.”

Atlas will be four months old this month. “She’s just a really heavy, healthy baby. I’m grateful, though, that she can break my back while I’m carrying her,” Heather laughs. 

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Captain Aidan (@captain_aidan_silva_)

Aidan and Heather, who were both Victoria’s Secret employees, met on Aidan’s first day of work. It was 5:30 a.m. and Heather was sitting on the floor, wearing sweatpants with no makeup on, and folding panties. He fell in love at first sight. 

Aidan pretended to be bad at his new job, forgetting how to fold the merchandise, just to have an excuse to talk to Heather. At one point, she reminded him how to fold panties, bras, yoga pants, and more several times in one day.

“I was just thinking, this freaking idiot doesn’t know how to fold. I have to show him every day!” Heather recalls. 

Heather realized she was in love with Aidan after a couple weeks of spending time together. She woke up one morning and felt an ache in her chest. She missed Aidan and really wished he was beside her. Two months later, she told him she loved him.  

“It’s funny, Aidan didn’t know how to flirt, and I don’t know how to flirt or even accept flirtations. Putting us two awkward people together, I’m surprised we’re even married now,” Heather adds.  

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by ☽ ʜᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀ (@hvrbear)

The couple began dating in April of 2012. Three years later, Aidan realized he was a trans man and came out to Heather. She worried he would change—not just physically, but emotionally and mentally—and would no longer want to be in a relationship with her. But she put her fears aside, and ultimately realized she wanted to be with Aidan and help him during his transition. 

“I was just like, ‘Dude, who the fuck cares?’ Thinking about it so hard and so long means you care about this person. That’s all you need to know: you care, and can’t have a life without them,” Heather says. 

She helped Aidan get the letter he needed from a therapist to begin his physical transition and hormone therapy. She gave him his testosterone shots, made his doctor appointments at LGBTQ-friendly clinics, and helped him correct his name and gender marker on his ID documents. 

Aidan documented his transition journey on Instagram and became a popular creator when he shared a video of his top surgery after three months on testosterone. His story encouraged many, including trans men and parents of trans folk who didn’t know they could get top surgery so soon after starting hormone-replacement therapy.

“Happiness is possible as a transgender person,” he says. “You’re worthy of happiness, finding love, having a family. You don’t have to be this special person to have a family. You just have to know what you want, and get it.” 

He continues to post about his personal milestones, such as getting married and becoming a father. “I just wanted to be that person I needed when I was younger,” Aidan says. 

Aidan surprised Heather with a flash-mob marriage proposal at Jasper’s on Market Street in The Woodlands on November 21, 2015. The couple and their friends were at the destination when Heather saw their mutual friend Wesley Cordova, a professional performer, outside dancing to “Marry You” by Bruno Mars. She shrugged and decided to watch the show inside with her lunch. 

However, her friends and Aidan convinced her to go back outside. It was only after several minutes of the flash mob’s performance that Heather realized she was the one getting proposed to. As she turned around and saw Aidan on one knee, he handed the ring to her, shaking with nerves. Heather then handed it back to him, crying, “You have to put it on me first!”

When their wedding planning proved overwhelming, the two decided to elope in July 2016 and have a simple ceremony near the waterfalls at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin. 

“It was perfect,” Heather says as Aidan nods in agreement.

The happy family now lives in The Woodlands with a bearded dragon named Mr. Miyagi and their two cats, an 8-year-old orange tabby named Prizmo and a 6-year-old tortie named Obsidian. Aidan works as a swimming-pool designer, and Heather is an office admin for The Pool Whisperer. She and her sisters want to start a company that renovates and flips houses in the future. 

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Captain Aidan (@captain_aidan_silva_)

Aidan and Heather say they are not special people, just folks trying to figure out life. “I just so happen to be transgender,” Aidan says. 

“As long as you want anything—happiness, family, a new car—it’s possible,” Heather adds. 

When asked what the key to a fulfilling, long-lasting relationship is, the couple replies in unison, “Communication!”

“We can’t read each other’s minds. We are most successful when we communicate how we feel and what we need from each other,” Heather says. “Communicate your honesty.” 

Follow Aidan on Instagram @captain_aidan_silva, and follow Heather @hvrbear.

This article appears in the February 2022 edition of OutSmart magazine.

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Lillian_Hoang

Lillian Hoang is a staff reporter for OutSmart Magazine. She graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in journalism and minor in Asian American studies. She works as a College of Education communication assistant and hopes to become an editor-in-chief.
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