A trans man has revealed he has given birth to a healthy baby after suffering years of miscarriages with his partner.
Frankie, who is a trans man, and Rāwā welcomed their new child, Hiwa-i-te-Rangi, into their home in Canterbury, New Zealand’s South Island, in 2023.
The couple broke the news this week in the hope of showing trans couples that having a child is possible, but Frankie admits it comes with its challenges.
Before she became pregnant, Frankie read that testosterone therapy could cause infertility and after multiple miscarriages and several rounds of low-level failed attempts. fertility With the interventions the couple began to lose hope.
That all changed on New Year’s Eve 2022 when Frankie, who had not been drinking, began vomiting.
When the couple returned home, Frankie took a pregnancy test.because, you know, sometimes you do it just for shits and giggles,” he said. New Zealand Herald.
It immediately returned a positive result.
‘I couldn’t even say anything and Rāwā just looked at him and then didn’t say anything and then we showered in silence and I don’t think we said anything for a few hours because we were in shock. -Frankie said-.
Rāwā and Frankie, from rural Canterbury in New Zealand, open up about what it was like to welcome a child into the world as a trans man.
Frankie had suffered from gender dysphoria, a condition in which a person’s sense of identity does not match the gender assigned at birth.
She said she didn’t worry when the physical signs of pregnancy began to appear because it was a deliberate choice for the couple to try to achieve a pregnancy.
Rāwā and Frankie had to wait seven months to receive Frankie. Testosterone reserves are depleted before they can begin trying to conceive.
Frankie’s hypothyroid disease was another complication, but one The endocrine team worked with her GP to change her treatment to suit her pregnancy.
The biggest worry after becoming pregnant was preparing for the “doomsday scenario” in which Frankie would menstruate again as her body became more feminine.
Rāwā felt an “obligation to ensure Frankie was safe,” so she immediately worked to understand a healthcare system that was not designed for pregnant trans people.
A blood clinic told the couple that their tests were initially reserved for women, but Rāwā said that apart from that incident, everything else worked well.
When the couple finally told family and friends about the pregnancy there was “a lot of screaming.”
“It was quite magical and very charming and everyone and their dogs and cats wanted to be the aunt and uncle,” Rāwā said.
Rāwā and Frankie have decided to share their story in a new TVNZ documentary. will air on November 11.
The couple will discuss their previous experiences with miscarriage and losing Frankie’s testosterone before showing her home water birth and its complications.
Frankie said he wants his story increase visibility around carrying a child as a trans man.
During the lowest moments of pregnancy, Rāwā said other trans people’s responses to their story kept them going.
“We might never have been able to have kids and we had a couple of miscarriages, but we might have given up at some point and just said, you know, we can’t do this anymore,” she said.
Looking ahead, Rāwā and Frankie say their main goal is to raise their son, but they hope to grow their family with more children in the future.
‘If we only had one child, we would be so blessed to have had such a beautiful birth and to have been so loved and cared for. But we also want to have more children,” Frankie said.
