A trans woman conceived a baby with her wife while she was transitioning
Rebecca and Isabelle Sutherland with their child. (Facebook/Rebecca Sutherland)
A trans woman and her wife have welcomed their first baby together.
Rebecca and Isabelle Sutherland, from Canberra, Australia, married in 2016, having known each other since childhood.
It was just before their wedding that Isabelle told her wife that she had a secret to share with her.
“I was worried because it was not long after we got engaged,” Rebecca told Australia’s ABC News.
Afraid that Isabelle was going to break off their engagement, Rebecca “cornered her” and demanded to know what was going on.
Isabelle said that she “just kind of broke down” and came out as trans to her wife, who reacted in the best possible way.
Bec said, ‘Oh, is that all?’
“I said, ‘Look, I’m trans,’ and Bec said, ‘Oh, is that all?'”
Isabelle’s honesty promoted Rebecca to make her own admission.
“I guess I have to tell her I’m bi now,” she recalled thinking. “I was keeping it a secret.”
Trans woman decided to try for baby before hormone therapy.
The couple said that their relationship was strengthened by their honesty.
Later, after an unplanned pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, they began to discuss parenthood.
“We were never quite sure if we were going to try for a child before I started medically transitioning, or use in vitro fertilisation after the fact,” Isabelle said.
“Ultimately, we decided, ‘You know what, we’ll just give it a try for a couple of months to see how it goes before I start hormones. Maybe something will happen, maybe it won’t, we’ll play it by ear.'”
Two weeks later, Rebecca was pregnant.
Once her wife’s pregnancy had reached her second trimester, Isabelle began medically transitioning.
The couple said that they encountered medical staff who seemed “hung up” on their situation, forcing them to change hospitals.
However they said that on the whole, the response has been positive.
“People come up to us all the time saying, ‘Oh, isn’t he adorable’ and have a chat about babies, and have a chat in general, and the fact that we’re two mums almost never factors into it,” Isabelle said.
Earlier this month, trans dad Freddy McConnell told PinkNews that trans people having babies is a ‘superpower’.
