Pregnant Man

I used to be an OB nurse. And nearly every time I worked, I would be completely shocked at the things that patients (or visitors) didn't know. SHOCKED. So I would routinely provide the requested information and then also explain that they could say 'they knew me when' since I was going to get my own tv show, in order to inform the masses of much needed information.

I haven't gotten around to finding someone who wants to put me on tv, but I have a blog. And now will subject you all to all things newborn and obstetrical, otherwise known as "the things I think everyone should know about". You're welcome.

The first thing is not anything that I have any first hand knowledge of, but it is something that I'm sure everyone will be buzzing about by this time tomorrow. Mostly because Oprah's doing a show on it tomorrow. Shut up. You know that you want to know about it too.

So anyway, in case you haven't heard, Oprah is doing a show about a pregnant man. And because I was awake during at least part of my college education, I can inform you of just how such a thing happens.

You have to have a uterus to be pregnant. Shocking, no? And there is pretty much only one way that a man can have a uterus. Which is the same way a woman does - he has to be born with it. Which means that he was born a hermaphrodite. **I stand completely corrected. I either misread or saw incorrect information (you mean all things on the internet aren't true?!) about Mr Thomas Beatie. He was not born a hermaphrodite and instead had sexual reassignment surgery. However the end result is not much different. He is a man with a uterus. Having a baby. My deepest apologies for the incorrect information, I was WRONG. Feel free to mark this as something to come back to, just in case I ever dispute that fact.

Image from: The National Ledger

When a baby is born without an obvious gender, it is typical for the parents to select the gender in which a child is raised. The other gender parts are typically removed (although clearly not always, as he has kept his uterus) and hormone therapy is used to suppliment the missing hormones.

So anyway, this man (who kept his female parts) was inseminated and is now pregnant.

So he is legally male, but he has female parts. My personal feeling is that while calling him a pregnant man is technically correct, it's also misleading. Because this particular man has quite the unique set of circumstances.

So there you have it....the story of the pregnant man. This concludes installment one of "things I think everyone should know".