London: Hayden Cross, a British transgender man who was born female, has postponed his gender transition process to have a baby.
After finding a sperm donor on a social media platform, Cross is expected to become the UK’s first male to give birth.
The 20-year-old has been living the life of a male legally for three years and is already half-way through his hormone treatment to transform completely from a woman to a man. He will complete his transition, which will remove his breasts and ovaries, after his child is born.
He told the Sun on Sunday: ‘I want the baby to have the best. I’ll be the greatest dad.’
Hayden, who lives in a council flat in Gloucester and receives unemployment benefits, was reportedly desperate to have a baby and therefore, asked the NHS to freeze his eggs before he completed his transition.
Doctors, however, refused to give him the treatment which would have cost £4,000, which left him disappointed and made him resort to social media as an option to find a sperm donor.
He said: ‘I faced the prospect of not becoming the man I am supposed to be, physically, or a dad.
‘So I didn’t feel like I had any choice but to have a baby now then get back to transitioning,’ the Daily Mail reported.
The sperm was delivered to his door in a pot by the anonymous sperm donor, about whom even Cross isn’t aware. He self-administered the sperm by inserting it with a syringe since he could not afford a proper clinic.
Cross became pregnant at the first attempt.
Speaking of the discovery, Cross said: “It was mixed emotions. I was happy but I also knew it would be backtracking on my transition.”
According to the Daily Mail, Hayden said if the NHS had agreed to freeze his eggs then he would have waited until he was older and in a steady relationship before having a child.
He said that he will ensure he stays single during the child’s formative years in order to keep matters as simple as possible.
Hayden said he felt pressured into getting pregnant before completing his gender transition, as hormone treatment would have set irreversible changes into motion.
Hayden went to an all girl’s school in Gloucester but he was expelled at the age of 14, around the time his parents split up when his dad returned to taking drugs.
He said he didn’t fit in, made mostly male friends and loved playing football.
He said he is bisexual and has dated both males and females but prefers males, the Daily Mail reported.
He will be guided through the course of his pregnancy by his local hospital’s NHS maternity services.
Transgender men do have the capability to become pregnant themselves if they keep their uterus and ovaries in tact.
PTI