A man who was born a woman has carried and given birth to his own
daughter, after his wife was unable to fall pregnant. Chris Rehs-Dupin,
33, and his wife Amy from Columbus, Ohio knew when they met and fell in
love in their twenties, that they wanted a family.
As Chris - who was born Christina - was a pre-op transgender male at the
time, they initially hoped that Amy could be the biological mother. But
when five attempts of intrauterine insemination - fertility treatment
that involves placing sperm inside a uterus to facilitate fertilisation –
failed, Chris, who still had his female reproductive organs,
volunteered to carry their baby instead.
He finally gave birth to their now two-year-old daughter, Hayden,
naturally on December 20, 2014, after five rounds of IUI treatment and a
miscarriage. Having Hayden made Amy, now 33, even more determined to
carry a baby herself and in 2016 she had a son, Milo, after a further
round of IUI.
Explaining their unusual parenting arrangements, Amy
said: 'We went through a lot of fertility treatments, until we finally
reached a point where we needed to make a decision as to whether we were
going to do more medical intervention or if we were going to switch
bodies.
'We were fortunate enough to have two uteruses. So, after a lot of thought and emotion and difficulties we switched to Chris.'
And while Chris lived as a man and didn't feel female, he was willing to use his womb, for the good of their family.
Recalling their initial plans to have children, sales director Amy
continued: 'There was no question who would carry the baby. I couldn't
wait to be pregnant.'
Amy's love for Chris meant his gender was not an issue.
She added: 'By the time I met him, I knew the issue of his gender was at
the forefront of his mind. And, eventually, he became more masculine
and lived as a man.
'Chris was my soul mate. I loved everything about him. It didn't matter what he looked like.'
Cementing their love with a civil partnership in October 2012 and
legally married in 2013, when the law changed, the couple were keen to
have children.
But, when Chris finally fell pregnant, despite their excitement, they
both struggled with what was happening throughout the pregnancy.
And while Chris started to experience the physical signs of pregnancy -
he was constantly sick and his belly and breasts grew – his changing
hormones strangely made his natural goatee beard grow thicker and more
prominent.
'Some days, he looked like a man with a beer belly,' Amy joked.
Being pregnant was also a confusing time for Chris. He admitted: 'Being
pregnant is such a female thing and that's when I started to question
that it was not what I was.
'I don't think I had a problem emotionally having a child, I wasn't
losing a part of my identity. I think the world had a bigger problem
with it than I did.
Neither Chris nor Amy will ever forget the moment, when Hayden was born,
weighing 8lbs and 11oz, and they became parents for the first time.
'I couldn't believe we were parents,' said Chris, who explained that Amy
was legally registered as Hayden's mother, while he was listed as
'parent.' 'We both cried, holding her in our arms. Finally, our prayers
had been answered.'
Sadly, though, Amy didn't produce enough, so they decided together that Chris would breastfeed Hayden after all.
'When I was the pregnant one, because I had a husband who had been there
before, it was different. He understood what I was going through, what I
was feeling. It was a benefit that not a lot of women have,' Amy said.
The delighted pair welcomed their second baby, Milo into the world, weighing 8lb 15oz on October 1, 2016.
Amy said: 'We've been on an incredible journey as a family, but we have
two amazing kids and Chris is finally happy in his own body.'
He added: 'We would love to have a third child. I hope to have breast
reconstruction surgery, but will not have a bottom surgery, or have my
ovaries removed, so I haven't ruled out carrying it. We'll have to fight
over it this time.'