Pregnant Man Weeks From Giving Birth
Transgender male Thomas Beatie has four weeks before he delievers his daughter.
June 9, 2008 — -- The famously pregnant man, transgender male Thomas Beatie, proudly showed off his expanding belly and revealed that he and his wife are considering having more children, according to a British tabloid.
"I feel fantastic," Beatie told the News of the World. "I cannot wait to see my baby's face. We have her nursery ready and her diapers are lined up in her bedroom. Everything is ready to go."
Beatie, 34, of Bend, Ore., is due to give birth in four weeks.
The couple, whose unconventional version of parenthood has stirred international debate, posed for new candid photos of a very pregnant Beatie eagerly showing off a burgeoning belly.
The photos include shots of Beatie shaving and an intimate portrait of wife his wife, Nancy Beatie, cradling his large stomach.
Beatie said he shaves while resting his arm on his baby bump and may even consider having more children.
"We will just see what the experience is like with our daughter's arrival first and then give it some thought," he told the tabloid.
Beatie, born a woman who was named Tracy Lagondino, retained his female reproductive organs, which allowed him to conceive. Since Nancy, who already has adult children from a previous relationship, could not have children, Beatie offered to carry a child for her.
The baby was conceived through artificial insemination. Nancy actually performed the procedure at home with a syringe.
"I feel it's not a male or female desire to want to have a child. It's a human desire. And I'm a person, and I have the right to have my own biological child," said Beatie, who has already picked a name for his daughter but won't reveal it until she's born.
The Beaties admit their situation is out of the ordinary but insist their daughter will be raised in a household with traditional mother and father roles. Nancy Beatie said she'll act as the child's mother, while Thomas Beatie assumes the father role.
"What's actually astonishing about this pair is that they behave like a man and a woman in a very traditional marriage and will probably bring those roles to the family, and the little girl will grow up like all little girls grow up, with a daddy and a mommy," said anthropologist and author Helen Fisher.
