These trans dads tell their beautiful stories about giving birth
A number of transgender parents have spoken out in recent years about their stories about starting their families.
By July this year, 54 trans dads had given birth in Australia alone, and many more have told their stories filled with love of starting a family.
Thomas Beatie
Back in 2008, Beatie appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, pregnant, and was later celebrated as the “first” man to give birth.
He gave birth to a baby girl after appearing on the show, and later opened up about struggles faced as a trans parent.
Speaking to People Magazine at the time, Mr Beatie said: “The only thing different about me is that I can’t breast-feed my baby. But a lot of mothers don’t.”
He suspended his hormone replacement therapy after he found out his wife was unable to conceive, in order to carry their child.
“I actually opted not to do anything to my reproductive organs because I wanted to have a child one day. I see pregnancy as a process and it doesn’t define who I am,” Beatie told TV talk show Oprah Winfrey.
Back in 2010, Beatie became pregnant for the third time.
Trystan Reese and Biff Chaplow
Also of Oregon, Reece gave birth in August 2017 to baby Leo with his husband Biff Chaplow.
The couple had publicly shared pregnancy photos and celebrated the birth with videos and photos published after a 30-hour labour.
“We are here, said Reese,” in an adorable post-birth video that you can watch below.
“Little baby Leo is… 18 hours old or so, less than 24 hours for sure.
“This little guy was born yesterday at 8.22pm – 9lb 6oz after about 30 hours of labour, which Biff was supporting me through.”
Hayden Cross and Scott Parker
Hayden Cross and Lorraine Kelly
Hayden Cross was one of two trans men to give birth within a month of each other in the UK when he welcomed Trinity-Leigh back in April.
Scott Parker also told his story about giving birth to April around a month before.
Parker spoke out about how he thought he would never have his own kids after he transitioned.
“I did want to have my own children, and I had thought about how it might be possible with fertility treatment, but in the end I just wrote it off as something that is not going to happen,” he said.
Hayden Cross
“I thought: ‘I’m a man now – I can’t have children.”
But the graphic designer from Brighton said he was over the moon with his decision to give birth.
“Now I have everything. I am the man I am meant to be and a parent.
“I want others to know they can do it too,” he added.
“It is wonderful that attitudes are changing and people like me can celebrate being a parent.
“She is beautiful and I feel so fortunate, and I think I am doing pretty well as a parent.”
The only neegative was that he wasn’t allowed to be listed as father on April’s birth certificate.
And Cross said he had received death threats since going public with his decision to have a baby.
Hayden Cross
“But a lot of people don’t really understand the situation. I want them to be more aware,” he told Lorraine.
The Gloucester native got pregnant through an anonymous sperm donation.
But, Cross said, he “faced the prospect of not becoming the man I’m supposed to be, physically, or a dad.
“So I didn’t feel like I had any choice but to have a baby now then get back to transitioning.
“I’ve always wanted kids.”
And now, he told The Sun that his daughter was “perfect in every way.
“She is so good. I’m so lucky,” he continued. “She’s my angel.”
Henrý Steinn
Steinn, of Iceland, gave birth back in 2016 after finding out he was pregnant as a surprise.
Then 19-year-old Henrý Steinn had started living as male when he found out he was pregnant via his boyfriend Doddi.
Speaking to Gay Iceland, the teen explained that the news came months after he began transitioning – and just weeks before he was set to start taking testosterone.
He said: “I was well into the consultation and was living as a man but was about one or two months away from starting the hormone treatment when I found out I was pregnant.
“It would probably have been less likely for me to fall pregnant after that, but not impossible.”
Steinn also halted his hormone treatment in order to start his family and hasn’t looked back.
Kayden Coleman
Coleman also found he was pregnant as a surprise, saying he thought he was just overweight when he discovered he had conceived.
Kayden Coleman began his transition over a decade years ago and preparing for a mastectomy – which required him to stop his hormone treatment.
It was during this time that Mr Coleman says he fell pregnant – but did not realise for nearly five months.
He says he alerted his partner, Elijah, after he started to experience severe back pain and felt extremely bloated.
“It felt like there was a pillow under my stomach but there was no pillow,” he told The Mirror.
But the couple couldn’t be happier with their surprise.
Coleman say that even after their daughter – who they named Azealia – was born, it took him a while to adjust to his new role.
“Even when I first held her it hadn’t sunk in that she was mine, so I didn’t really feel much,” he said.
“But I knew things would never be the same again. I was so happy to finally see her face.”
Evan Hempel
In spring 2016 Hempel gave birth to his kid/
According to People, Hempel had always planned to carry his child, even after transitioning to male.
After several attempts at artificial insemination using donor sperm, Hempel gave birth.
Speaking to TIME, his sister Jessi talks about how he decided to carry the child and about coming to terms with being a dad to the kid he gave birth to.
“It was a gamble,” Hempel says. “I didn’t know how I’d feel, but it turns out I just feel like it’s really cool that my body can do this.”
A photo of Hempel breastfeeding his son also went viral after being included in TIME magazine.
AJ Kearns
Kearns back in August 2015 said he was “blessed” to have been able to give birth, after putting his transition on hold to enlarge his family
Having started his transition nearly three years prior, Mr Kearns postponed his physical transition in order to give birth to another child.
“So even though I knew I was a man and was quite comfortable with the fact that I was transgender, I had to put the physical transition on hold whilst I gave birth,” ABC Australia reports.
Mr Kearns and his then-partner Zu White already had one child – but due to complications during the first birth, he decided to carry their second child.
“I understand my story may seem confusing. I see it as a simple thing. My body was blessed with the ability to provide life,” Mr Kearns said.
Beautiful!
