US transgender man gives birth to 'delightful' baby boy

  • 02/08/2017
The pair posted a picture of them with the baby on social media.
The pair posted a picture of them with the baby on social media. Photo credit: Instagram / @biffandi

A US man and his husband have welcomed a child into the world after one of them, who is transgender and thus born with a female reproductive system, gave birth to a baby boy.

Trystan Reese and Biff Chaplow, who were already parents to two adopted children in Portland, Oregon, fell victim to miscarriage after six weeks in 2016 - but this time, the baby was delivered without issue.

The pair took to social media several months ago announcing their pregnancy - an announcement that drew widespread media attention, and a mixture of delight and transphobic censure.

Speaking to People, Mr Reese labelled their newborn Leo "the most delightful baby ever".

"He's eating like a champ, sleeping well, and blessing us with lots of cuddles," he said. "It's hard to believe it's really real, but it is - he's here and he's just perfect."

Mr Reese admitted Leo's arrival was "an incredible relief" after their failed pregnancy last year.

"We've waited so long to meet him, and worked so hard to bring him into this world, that it's just a joy to be able to look at his face and hold his tiny hand and actually see him."

In an eye-opening  video posted to the couple's Facebook page earlier this year, Mr Reese explained that he was in the rare position of identifying as male but being grateful for having being born a female - describing his inherited body as "a gift".

"If you can understand that, then it starts to make more sense that it would not seem totally bizarre for me to want to create and carry a baby - because I don't wish that my body was not a trans body," he said at the time.

"I'm okay being a man who has a uterus and has the capacity and capability of carrying a baby."

Leo joins the couple's other two children, Riley and Hailey, who they adopted from Mr Chaplow's sister in 2011 after she and her partner were deemed unfit to be the childrens' guardians.

Newshub.