by “I Am Not the Babysitter” follower, Wes:
My partner is a female-to-male transsexual. He was born female, but he always felt like a boy. With his family’s blessing, Sean plunged into medical transition at 19 years old, when he started hormone replacement therapy and began living full time as a man. Most trans men don’t birth their own children, but some do! He had a natural birth in a hospital. Going off testosterone and experiencing pregnancy were both very difficult, but it was worth it in the end.
As far as parenting style goes, we’re about as crunchtastic as it gets. We co-sleep, nurse all day and night, use cloth diapers, wear our baby, buy organic food at the local co-op—we even tried elimination communication for a few months (it uh… didn’t work out, hehe). When Caleb is older, we’re planning to homeschool him. We couldn’t do any of it without all of Sean’s hard work.
Caleb is always with his Baba. Every day, they walk through the neighborhood, take a bath, and prepare dinner together (Caleb just watches). Sean is an amazing chef! He’s a vegetarian, but his cooking is good enough that I never miss meat. Sean built his computer with Caleb on his back! We compete to see who can build the coolest block tower for Caleb to knock down.
Spinach fettucini alfredo, rustic bread, apple pie, and pizza—all from scratch!
Sean plans to nurse Caleb until he self-weans, and then he’ll go back on testosterone and get top surgery to have a masculine chest. In the beginning, Caleb couldn’t figure out how to get a good latch, so Sean pumped milk and we fed it to him in a bottle. He pumped so much in those two months that we were able to donate 300oz to families in need! These days, Caleb gets it straight from the source, and nursing is as much about comfort as it is nutrition. I’ve never seen a happier baby.
