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Evan Hempel was born in a family of daughters; he had been one of three sisters in the family. When he turned 19, he finally came out to his family as transgender and slowly began the long transition to becoming the man he is today.
Although Evan changed his name and physical appearance – now 35 years old, he commonly sports a scruffy blond beard and stands at a stocky 5’6” – he kept his female genitalia intact. Ever since he was young, he’d always known that he wanted to have kids.
Changing sexes did nothing to change this want.
After Evan married his female partner, they agreed that he would carry their child with donor sperm. It took years and almost $12,000 to get Evan pregnant. When he was undergoing IVF, Evan had to stop his testosterone treatment and take medication to prompt his body to ovulate. Once he was pregnant, he would have to take progesterone to ensure a healthy pregnancy.
Thankfully, after Evan went through his second round of IVF, his doctor confirmed that he had successfully gotten pregnant.
When Evan announced his pregnancy – quietly and carefully – almost everyone immediately voiced their support. They expressed their excitement, wished him and his family well, and hardly bat an eyelid. Even Evan’s HR manager at work leapt to share her own stories about her children when he told her the news.
Evan had been hoping for a positive response, but never expected that he would receive it.
Everything about the pregnancy followed smoothly.
He gave birth precisely on the predicted due date and had no problems chest-feeding his son afterward. Evan and his partner even managed to share a laugh about themselves; they could only imagine how they’d looked walking into the receiving room with Evan carrying nothing but a birthing ball and his partner carrying all the baggage and paperwork.
When Evan decides to wean his son off chest-feeding, he will recommence his testosterone treatment, allowing his breasts to shrink to a more manageable size and his beard to thicken.
Over time, he knows his family will soon look like any other family, but he and his partner will always be proud of the fact that their family is, quite simply, a miracle.
