A bearded man sent shockwaves round the world yesterday when he announced: “I’m PREGNANT.” Thomas Beatie, 34, released his astonishing photo showing his swollen belly — and said it felt “incredible” to be a pregnant and revealed that he is due on July 3. And he also disclosed how he was fertilised using donor sperm because his wife Nancy cannot have children.
American Thomas — a transsexual who was actually born female — admitted that his amazing pregnancy would create “legal, political and social unknowns”. But in a real-life echo of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1994 film Junior, Thomas vowed to carry on living as a man even while his baby bump is growing. He added: “I will be my daughter’s father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family. Thomas is legally a man after undergoing a sex change, even though he kept his female reproductive organs.
He and his wife were desperate to start a family after ten years together, but Nancy, 45, had had a hysterectomy after health problems 20 years ago. So Thomas, who had chest reconstruction surgery and testosterone therapy for his sex change, stopped the hormone injections and his periods returned. A year later, he fell pregnant with twins using donor sperm, but lost the babies after developing life-threatening complications. He then became pregnant again five months ago, and his doctors now expect him to give birth to a healthy baby girl.
Thomas bravely decided to write about his experience in respected US gay magazine The Advocate. He wrote: “How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am. To those in the quiet community where we live, we are viewed just as we are — a happy couple deeply in love. Our desire to work hard, buy our first home and start a family was nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until we decided that I would carry our child. I am transgender, legally male, and legally married to Nancy.” Thomas admitted medics, friends and relatives had been shocked by his pregnancy. One doctor ordered him to shave off his beard before referring him to a psychologist.
And Thomas revealed his wife’s family are in for a shock because they have no idea he was born female. He said: “Doctors have discriminated against us, turning us away due to their religious beliefs. “Health care professionals have refused to call me by a male pronoun or recognise Nancy as my wife. Receptionists have laughed at us. Friends and family have been unsupportive; most of Nancy’s family doesn’t even know I’m transgender. The first doctor we approached was a reproductive endocrinologist. He was shocked by our situation and told me to shave my facial hair. A few months and $2,000 later, he told us he would no longer treat us, saying he and his staff felt uncomfortable working with ‘someone like me’.”
Thomas said even his own family had failed to support him after he lost the twins. He revealed: “When my brother found out he said, ‘It’s a good thing that happened. Who knows what kind of monster it would have been.'”
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