Hello,
I am born a male and I would like to get pregnant.
Any advice or doctors that would be willing to allow me to have a child on my own and experience the joys of childbirth.
Thank you in advance.
J.
Dear J.,
Male pregnancy should be theoretically possible. You would need extensive treatment with female hormones and would grow breasts but after birth breast-feeding may not be successful. After hormone treatments, an embryo could be implanted in your abdomen, where hopefully with some luck it might implant, though this would be difficult to control or predict. But if the embryo survives, which is unlikely, as the baby grows the placenta which its very rich blood supply will also grow and it will invade your organs, possibly your bowel, bladder, liver or your great vessels to maintain the flow of blood to the foetus. As you do not have a vagina, delivery would have to be by a complex abdominal operation which is likely to be extremely complicated, and because the baby is not protected by the walls of a womb, it is extremely likely to be born severely handicapped or very abnormal.
Added to this, removal of the placenta from your pelvis will leave massive raw areas which may damage various organs and will undoubtedly lead to severe bleeding which may be difficult to stop. The chance of a fatal haemorrhage is so high (a death rate of greater than 50%) that I would be a bit inclined to suggest you don’t consider this rather risky path of action. If you do survive the surgery you are likely to have permanent health problems with your bowel or bladder afterwards. Off hand I am not sure I know of any doctors who would be likely to try this experiment.
Best wishes
Robert Winston