The First Transgender Pregnancy

Speaking of babies, here’s a story far more amazing than J.Lo finally giving birth to twins. As Elle mentioned in The Frisky Forums, The Advocate has a first person essay by the first transgender man to carry a child. Thomas Beatie was born a woman and is married to Nancy. Though he went through sexual reassignment surgery, Thomas didn’t opt to be sterilized and kept his reproductive rights. Together for ten years, the couple had always wanted to have children, but Nancy is unable to conceive after a hysterectomy 20 years ago, so Thomas decided to carry the child himself. He hadn’t had a menstrual cycle in nearly eight years, however (due to testosterone therapy), so getting pregnant required fertility treatments—his first pregnancy resulted in an ectopic pregnancy with triplets, a life-threatening condition that required surgery and all three embryos were lost. Thomas successfully got pregnant again, and this time everything seems healthy—he and Nancy are expecting their baby girl this summer.

The story is an interesting one for many reasons, particularly because it describes the experience of a man experiencing pregnancy. While Thomas’ ability to get pregnant is possible because he was born a woman, he identifies as a male and therefore, “Wanting to have a biological child is neither a male nor female desire, but a human desire.” It’s a great essay—check it out and then chime in about the story in the forums. [The Advocate]