Worldâs First Pregnant Man: âI Canât Wait To Get This Damn Thing Out of Meâ
Back in 2009,Â Thomas Trace Beatie, a public speaker, author, and advocate for transgender and sexuality issues with a focus on trans fertility and reproductive rights, became the first man to become pregnant.Â Beatie, who was born a woman, had gender reassignment surgery in 2002, and later became known as âThe Pregnant Man.â It was Beatieâs pregnancy that gave doctors and researchers at Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego the idea of impregnating a natural born male.Over the entire span of medical science, doctors believed human males did not have the anatomy needed for natural embryonic and fetal development. However, Dr. Paul Chambers, a pioneer of in-vitro fertilization, believed the theoretical ideaÂ of a male ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside the uterine cavity) by implantation could be completed with close monitoring, along with some modern medical intervention.âI donât see why it canât be done,â said Chambers. âWhy should women have all the fun, right fellas? Weâve worked very hard on the science and health risks involved. We studied the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Junior, watching it over and over,Â and we donât see why this canât work, albeit with some strict monitoring. There wonât be any Lamze classes for our pregnant man, though.âDr. ChambersÂ stresses that the concept of ectopic implantation, while theoretically plausible, had never been attempted and would be difficult to even justify to the scientific community. The need for justification, though,Â went out the windowÂ when they received a willing volunteer.The 31-year-old man, who we will refer to as âTom,â volunteered for the experimental pregnancy when it was learned that his wife of six years could not get pregnant due to severe endometriosis. The risks were explained, and Tom consented.âEven for women lacking a uterus â owing to the extreme health risks to both the parent and child, you can understand our concern for implanting a man,â said Dr. MilesÂ Balderdash, a researcher for Scripps. âRegardless of our concerns, [Tom] was determined to give his wife a child. So we went ahead with it. I gotta say, the guy is a trooper.âDoctors harvested several eggs from Tomâs wife, and fertilized the eggs with Tomâs sperm.âCollecting the spermÂ was by-far the best part of this whole process,â said Tom. âThey gave me a choice between video or magazines. I went with video. My wife doesnât let me watch that sort of thing at home, but for science, for our baby, she said I could this once.âOnce a viable fetus was established from this fertilization procedure, Dr. ChambersÂ implanted the fetus in Tomâs abdomen.âSince a man does not have a uterus with the placenta, we attached the fetus to an the only internal organ the male has that could possibly sustain a fetus â theÂ bowels,â Dr. Chambers said. He went on toÂ explain that the colon area isÂ made up ofÂ very vascular tissue, which can supply oxygen rich blood to the fetus. The colon is not as vascular as a uterus, but it is the most feasible choice to implantÂ in a male.Doctorâs at Scrippâs Memorial and researchers from San Diego State University Medical Center have been following TomâsÂ progress, and with proper medical treatment, he has been able to carry his baby for the past six months; However, doctors are becoming concerned.âThe weight of the baby is pushing his organs up into his chest cavity, and it is affecting his breathing. His blood oxygen levels are falling and putting the baby, and his health, at risk.ââTheyâve put me on bed rest for now,â Tom said as he wife tended to him. âAs long as I keep my feet up and do as the doctors tell me, Iâll be able to give my wife the child she deserves.âDoctors are obviously planning toÂ deliver by Caesarean section. âWe trust the doctors,â Tomâs wife said as she held her husbandâs hand. âTheyâve been so helpful this entire time. I just want a baby. [Tom] has been so strong this entire time. Women having been popping out babies for ages. Itâs so exciting to know that weâll be the first couple to have a baby that was grown in the father.âDr. ChambersÂ noted that the abdomen is not designed to separate from the placenta during delivery, hence the danger of an ectopic pregnancy.Â âWe never questioned whether this was going to work,â said Dr. Balderdash. âWe more questioned whether [Tom] was going to live through it. He knew the risks, though, and weâre doing all we can to make sure he and the baby are safe.âCurrently Tom is still bed bound with his feet up and his wife tending to him as he breaths purified oxygen through a face mask. He says he feels great, and just canât wait to get the âdamn thingâ out of him.