The man who is still biologically a woman, Thomas Beatie, gave birth vaginally after a 40 hour labour. The baby’s mother (who didn’t give birth to him because she has no uterus after having a hysterectomy) is 46 years old and has two adult children. Through a process called “induced lactation”, she’s the one who is breastfeeding the baby.
At least they called their daughter something normal (Susan) and really? Good luck to them all. I always figure that when people try this hard to have a child and swim so hard against the tide of medicine and public opinion, they’re going to make better parents than…..say….. the parents of Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii for example.
After the jump, lots of details and a video.
According to Celebrity Baby Blog:
Having welcomed daughter Susan Juliette on June 29th, Thomas Beatie — known as the Pregnant Man — and his wife Nancy introduce their bundle of joy in the latest issue of PEOPLE.
Weighing in at 9 lbs, 5 oz when she arrived at 8:55 p.m., Susan was the
product of 40 hours of hard labor, Thomas explained. “[Nancy] wanted to
take the pain away. She held my hand, she fed me ice chips, she brought
jelly beans from home, she practically crawled into bed with me.” After
many hours, Thomas’ midwife announced that it was time to push.When
Susan finally came out, it was like in slow motion. I was full of
wonder. She’s so precious, I just can’t stop staring at her. Just
holding her is the best feeling in the world. We’re finally the family
we’ve been dreaming of.Named
for Thomas’ late mother Susan, carrying Nancy’s middle name of
Juliette, and conceived through artificial insemination with donor
sperm, 3-week-old Susan is unaware of her status as the child given
birth to by a transgender male. Calling his blue-eyed daughter
“easygoing, mellow, and intelligent,” Thomas, 34, sounds like any new
mother assessing their post-baby body — except he’s the father!I weigh two pounds less than I did before I got pregnant. And I don’t have a single stretch mark!
Settling
into their Bend, Oregon home with their “miracle” Susan, Thomas and
Nancy, 45, are learning to care for their infant. After raising two
daughters from a previous marriage, Nancy has found herself nursing
again, through the process of induced lactation. Practiced occasionally
by adoptive moms and others who have lost their milk, hormones and
physical stimulation with a pump can be used to start a supply.[Even before I started taking the pills,] my brain was sending messages to my body, saying, ‘Get ready, you’re breast-feeding!’
Now
that Susan is here, Nancy reveals she’s grown three cup sizes and is
off the hormones — “It’s just me and the baby.” With that, Susan
starts crying and Thomas brings her over, saying, “Nancy, she’s still
hungry! I’m just like any typical father — all I can do is walk around
and rock her!”As for the unusual circumstances surrounding her birth, Thomas says,
“We know prejudice is out there, but how can anyone judge this
beautiful little baby?” He explains that Susan will know everything,
always.We’ll opt for full-disclosure. It’s not going to be some big shock. She’s going to know.
What It Means To Give Birth On Country
The Delivery Room
Top Comments
Have a baby by me, baby be a millionaire.
Ok, not denying for one second that the situation isn't abnormal. Cause it is. Very much so. And there's a chance Susan will be screwed up because of it.
However, it's just as likely she'll grow up being a very accepting, non-screwed up person. People keep talking about kids being mean, but the kids she'll associate with won't be old enough to remember all the kafuffle that's being made at the moment, so they may not even know. Cause to them, it will look like Susan has a mother and a father, just like everyone else. Really, the only way they could know is courtesy of parents. And there will be plenty of parents who couldn't care less, or just won't know (they do exist, I live with 3 people who didn't know anything about it until I mentioned it), and therefore won't have a problem with it.
By the time the kids are old enough to understand that there's something a little left of center going on, assuming they find out, they'll probably be too old to care, and the ones who are friends with Susan go on being friends with her, since it's nothing that she can help.
I really don't think people give kids enough credit, anyway. They're usually pretty accepting of a lot of stuff when they're little, because they've got pretty vivid imaginations, and as a result, most things seem plausable, and anything that doesn't seem plausible must have been made up anyway.
accepting! no,they will act like they accept, but deep down inside they are balling it all up inside, and when they get older they will be bullied/or bully people,or seriosly depressed or suisidal. So