A transgender patient in Philadelphia was shocked to learn that “he” had become pregnant, even in the midst of sex change treatments.
Like many families, the Philadelphia couple was surprised when they learned that they were expecting a baby, but with one of the pair being in the midst of a sex reassignment regime, the surprise was apparently even greater than average. Now their story is being told.
Kayden Coleman, 29, had asked doctors about a bloated stomach and back pains back in 2013 and was stunned to be told of the pregnancy.
“I never thought about getting pregnant. Because of the male hormones, I didn’t think it was a possibility. It was definitely a surprise,” Coleman told the Mirror Online.
The news was all the more stunning because Coleman had been undergoing sex change procedures for nearly a decade when the pregnancy came.
Coleman had been taking testosterone for five years before the pregnancy, had grown facial hair, and had plans for a double mastectomy.
In fact, the mastectomy may have been the culprit for the pregnancy because testosterone treatments had to be suspended for up to six weeks before surgery. The break in testosterone treatments was apparently all it took to bring on the happy event.
Coleman and his boyfriend Elijah, a 27-year-old gay man from New Jersey, welcomed Azaelia, born in December of 2013.
But the pregnancy put stress on their lives, as many neighbors and friends never knew that Coleman was transgender. “It was such a personal thing that I felt if Kayden wanted them to know he should tell them himself,” Elijah told the British paper.
The pregnancy wasn’t an easy one, either. With labor lasting for four days, Coleman felt that the blessed event was treated like “an experiment.”
“All the medical people were really nice but I did kind of feel like an experiment. While I was in labour, medical students kept coming in and out. It got to the point where I had to put my foot down and demand a c-section,” he said.
Elijah also told the paper that his mate suffered postnatal depression.
“It was tough,” Elijah said. “Kayden had postnatal depression for about a year. I wasn’t around much and we don’t have family nearby, so it was really hard. People who say it’s a joy are either lying or they have a lot of help from family.”
The couple also faced tense days between their extended families, as they all struggled to deal with the whole situation.
Coleman is now planning a hysterectomy and the couple are raising their child with two fathers.
Though Coleman and Elijah didn’t seek massive publicity back in 2013, this isn’t the first “pregnant man” story to draw attention. Back in 2007, transgender man Thomas Beatie made news by becoming pregnant via artificial insemination when he learned that his wife was infertile.
Beatie became an advocate for transgender and sexuality issues and has focussed on trans fertility and reproductive rights. But Beatie and his wife went through a contentious divorce in 2013.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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