I just watched a documentary called “Pregnant Man” about (of course) transgender man Thomas Beatie, who despite being legally male still had reproductive organs and a vagina and was able to give birth to his daughter. Fascinating documentary, and he and his wife are a really charming and well-balanced couple who are probably going to raise their kid very well, despite all the public attention (quite a bit of it negative). It was also really cute and funny to watch a guy being pregnant; he was very guylike about everything.
Anyway, I already knew most of the story, so there was only one big surprise for me. Thomas had had his breasts removed, so he was unable to breast-feed the baby. Instead, his wife went on a certain birth-control pill plus some other drug and was able to induce lactation and nurse the little girl. She said not a lot of people know you can do this, that even adoptive parents could potentially breastfeed their own infant.
Shocking! I looked at AS and asked her if she would ever consider that, if I weren’t able to nurse. See, I’m very very not looking forward to the prospect, for various reasons. I’m hoping things change once I get closer to it, but you never know. AS said she’d be very open to the idea. It would actually be pretty miraculous if it happened that way, because then she’d have a bond with the baby as intimate as NT’s and mine. (‘Course, I doubt I’d return the favor for her, so I’d have to find some other way to bond with her baby!)
Of course I have no idea how expensive that would be, how far in advance you have to start preparing (would she be able to get lactating in a hurry if it turned out I couldn’t handle breastfeeding?), and if there would be a big issue with getting cooperative doctors to help us do it. Lots of questions. But still, it opens up a whole new realm of possibility. I love this sci-fi world we live in!
