'Pregnant man' keen for more kids
news.com September 05, 2012 6:03AM
Thomas Beatie, famous for becoming pregnant and giving birth to a daughter as a man, is in a new relationship and wants more children: but this time in a more traditional 'father' role. Picture: Discovery Health Source: Supplied
THOMAS Beatie, who made headlines around the world as the first legally married man to give birth, says he wants more children.
However this time, he says, he wants his wife to carry the child.
A photo of Mr Beatie clutching his baby bump four years ago made him a media sensation.
Mr Beatie (formerly Tracy Lagondino) was not the first transgender man to bear a child, but he was recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's first married man to give birth.
He became pregnant with cryogenic donated sperm because his wife Nancy was infertile, giving birth to Susan in 2008, and going on to have two sons, Austin and Jensen over the next two years.
Mr Beatie, who lives in Arizona, told the Sunday Mirror his marriage to Nancy broke down after she developed a drinking problem, and he was granted custody of the children.
Earlier this year he found a new love, Amber Nicholas. "Amber and I are totally smitten," he said.
The couple plan to have children using the same sperm donor he used for his existing children: a 1.8m tall blond Lithuanian with a black belt in Taekwondo.
"I want the kids to all be related," he said. "Being pregnant was the most incredible experience, but we want Amber to do it this time around.
"I think it would be amazing to experience pregnancy as the father. It's just about which one of us would be more successful at having a baby. It's even possibly we could both be pregnant at the same time."
However his surgeon has told him pregnancy would be much harder this time, due to progress in his sex change. Though he still has a womb and other internal sex organs, he would have to have a caesarian.
Mr Beatie says his children are thriving, but he worries they may be bullied in the future or find negative comments about him on the internet.
"I'm hopeful that in 10 years there will be way more support for men having babies," he said.
