Aimee Walker
A trans man has opened up about the ‘trauma’ of being pregnant with his two children.
Kayden Coleman, from Houston, US, gave birth to both his seven-year-old, Azealia and his 10-month-old, Jurnee.
Although he loves being a parent, he says that he experienced ‘a lot of questions’ when carrying them.
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“There was a lot of trauma,” he explained on the Today show. “Most of that came from inside the birthing world, with medical professionals.
“There were a lot of questions about my identity, a lot of misgendering.
“Being told I shouldn’t be in spaces I was seeking care from because they were considered women’s spaces.”
The 34-year-old’s transition began back in 2009 but he decided to keep his female reproductive organs.
Explaining the decision, he said: “I never had bottom surgery because it’s expensive, there are often a lot of complications with it and it can numb things sexually.”
Reflecting on his pregnancies, Coleman believes that, in some ways, he was lucky as people just presumed he had a ‘beer belly’.
“I didn’t have to walk around in fear, worrying that people wanted to inflict violence on me,” he admitted. “They thought I had a beer belly.”
According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey in the US, 28 percent of trans people said they had been harassed in a medical setting. Another 2 percent revealed that they’d be victims in the actual doctor’s office.
This may be why 22 percent of transgender and non-binary people decide to have home births, which has a lot more risk factors.
As a result, Coleman is keen to improve fertility and pregnancy care for trans people. He has even started workshops to give people a better understanding and education on the subject.
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