'Pregnant Man' Thomas Beatie Debuts Baby Pictures, Shares Birth Story

It's been three weeks since his blue-eyed baby debuted in this world, but Thomas Beatie - better known around the world as the Pregnant Man - can already say this about his daughter's personality: "She's easygoing and mellow and intelligent."

On June 29 at 8:55 p.m., Beatie, 34, a former female beauty pageant contestant, made cultural history as perhaps the first legally transgender male to give birth, bringing into the world a 9 lbs., 5 oz. baby girl named Susan Juliette.

"She's so precious, I just can't stop staring at her," Thomas tells PEOPLE in his first interview since he and wife Nancy returned with their bundle from Bend, Oregon's St. Charles Medical Center. "Just holding her is the best feeling in the world."

Susan - named after Thomas's mother and conceived through artificial insemination with donor sperm - arrived after 40 hours of labor, with Nancy at Thomas's side acting as his coach.

"When Susan finally came out, it was like in slow motion," says Thomas. "I was full of wonder." Echoes Nancy: "There were tears of joy."

Both father and daughter came through the birth in perfect health. "I weigh two pounds less than I did before I got pregnant," adds Thomas. "And I don't have a single stretch mark!"

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Comments

[irisda]

I'm just concerned about the amount of attention that little baby is getting, and will probably get as she grows up. She didn't ask for anything, poor thing/ I wish the parents would stop all that publicity stunt, and I wish the media would just leave them be for the sake of the child.

[pakaal]

Gentle, loving embraces, tender glances at the newborn....

This dude is giving the rest of us guys a bad name! ;-)

[1will]

If the Huffpost headline writers can't even figure out the difference between a man and a woman then how can they be expected to get the complicated stuff like politics right?

[klmebane]

biologically thomas may be a woman, but legally he is a transgender male.

one thing about gay couples of all flavors, they will NEVER say "oops honey, i'm pregnant!" when they conceive a child it is an act of love and intention. every child deserves parents that will love and nurture it. regardless of what your feelings are about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people, they are still human, and they still (for the most part) want the same things you do. they want equal opportunity, equality under the law, equal pay, and the right (that all straight people have) to have a family if they so choose.

[Jinxykb]

Would you people just get over it? Don't you have anything better to do than writhe, moan and complain about a transgender person? Congratulate the mother and father and MOVE ON!

[rwe]

No one knows who the father is

[klmebane]

would you say the same thing about a straight married couple who had to use donor sperm because the man was infertile? how about an adopted child?

are you one of those people who screams about how adoption is an option but still sees adopted children as worth less than biological ones? i know far too many people who think like that. and with 100's of thousands of children in the foster system in the U.S. who need and deserve to have loving families adopt them it seems rather disingenuous to encourage women to put children up for adoption who may never be adopted. maybe if any couple or capable single person who was loving, stable, and financially able to care for a child could adopt one without having to jump through hoops some good could be done for all those kids in the system.

[DrJimmy]

father???

[klmebane]

yes, father. thats what transgender means. you legally change from one gender to the other. who knows, if thomas' wife had been able to get pregnant he may have already had his reassignment surgery. but because she wanted a child with her commonlaw husband and was unable to get pregnant herself her partner gave her the ultimate gift because he loves her.

[happycat]

Enough already. She is still a she, not a he. "Thomas" and wife need to go about their lives raising their children and new baby. They really strike me as media whores.

[walleymr]

"He" is NOT a man! I don't say this out of hatred or anything like that. It's simply scientific fact. HE IS NOT A MAN. "He" is a woman who has yet to fully undergo gender reassignment surgery.

[vixie29]

science agrees with you, xy can never be xx

but more power to him for living in a free society.

[helen]

I am so sick of seeing this person in the news. It seems all they really want is publicity - and with it, money. Go raise your child with love and affection, and please stay out of the news!

[barbwiregrrl]

helen why does it bother you that he is in the news? Do you also want that woman who had the 7 kids born to that born again in Iowa where three of them are severely disabled out of the news? Was daddy fired from hawlking power drills from Sears?

[ugmold]

Enough of this disgusting human.. makes me queasy to look at

[klmebane]

"Enough of this disgusting human.. makes me queasy to look at"

name calling dehumanizes people. and why does it make you queasy, because he is capable of being honest with himself about the feelings that he has?? you know what's REALLY disgusting? people who teach their children to hate other people, people who murder because they don't like who a person is, and people who are incapable of understand the notion of live and let live (among other things). that's what makes ME queasy.

all tax paying citizens should have equal rights and protections under the law. the right to marry the person the LOVE and the right to raise a family if they want to. no one tries to stop heterosexual people from having as many kids as they want, whether they can afford to care for them or not. in fact, i knew a catholic woman who was beyond broke and had 11 kids with her husband because they couldn't get permission from the church to use birth control. all those pregnancies really took a toll on her body, and with the last one she ended up needing a hysterectomy because of massive hemorrhaging that couldn't be stopped. had she been able to plan her family in a way that worked for her that drastic of a surgery may not have been needed.

[chicago25624]

It is not a man, IT is a woman who had an adadicktome. IT IS NOT A MAN, b ut as usual, the media has to tell one more little lie to help the wrong side.

[barbwiregrrl]

If it takes having a creepy, hateful attitude like yours to be a man then no wonder why the male gender is in such dire straights. Get it through your head...you do not define someone elses gender...that is for the person to do.

Oh goodness you claim more amunition for the other side....I think you are a small minded hateful person who is of the "other side". Take your bigotry and place on your male annatomy as you think that is what makes a man.

[DerekRC]

Science defines Male vs. Female. She is a female.

Are you dense?

[millahnna]

Congrats Thomas and Nancy. Shes beautiful.

[kid5rivers2]

Born as a woman, outwardly changed into a man, mothered a child, what next? Is the child a boy, a girl, or, both? Sigh! Only in America! Sigh!

[clr2]

Why is this a story? This person isn't a man - "he" has female parts. Females give birth every day. Now show me a man with man parts who delivers a baby naturally - now that would be a story. This isn't a story.

[barbwiregrrl]

are you saying the sum total of a man is his genatalia? Wow people just can't seem to let people live and let live.

[MrsGreebers]

In my opinion, of course not. But this is not a medically noteworthy in the way suggested by the headlines screaming "pregnant man!" Thomas and Nancy's marriage suggests that he has met the qualifications for legal gender assignment in whatever jurisdiction, so it's appropriate to call him a man. But this is a child born via a normal female reproductive system.

[helen]

Men don't get pregnant. Women do.
If you're a man, then be a man. Don't play gender-bending games so you can have it both ways.

[clr2]

"He" can live - what I am saying is it isn't news because this is a woman having a baby. This happens everyday millions of times a day. If "he" had man parts then that would be newsworthy. Plane and simple.

[yngcelt]

That kid is going to need a fortune in therapy!

[Theda]

Some men LOOK pregnant when they drink too much beer!

[disgusted48]

That is a cute baby. Can the dad/mom breast feed?

[andvoodoo2]

No. He had his breasts removed before the pregnancy.

[barbwiregrrl]

No he can not because he had a double masectomy but why does that matter to you? Do breasts define a human??? You remindme of when my nephew was 2 years old and he determine if some was a he or a she depending on where the "bumps" under their clothing were.

[NoSillyName]

That is usually the way children can tell who's what. Did you tell your nephew, "Now,

[NoSillyName]

oops.

That is usually the way children can tell who's what. Did you tell your nephew, "Now, (insert nephew's name) sometimes people have the bumps under their clothing, but that doesn't really mean anything. Its really all about their brains."? I doubt you said anything of the kind.

[edgarallenpoe]

A person who was born with a uterus had a baby. Why is this news?

[EarthToZoey]

It saddens me to see people call another human being "disgusting". There are all kinds of people in this world who may not live their life the way you'd want them to, so why waste energy spouting hateful, hurtful comments? Do you think your hate is going to change anything? If you don't agree with something, try making a reasoned argument as to what your position is and you might be more well received.

[AzRealProgressive]

No poster here hates this person. Because you disagree with someone does not make their point hate speech. Take a minute and learn to accept tolerance. You preach it, now take a sip of it yourself.

What was the purpose in this? An Ac/Dc in transit person gives birtth ?

[EarthToZoey]

You purport to know the hearts of all the posters here? That's quite impressive.

I think most people would take comments like "disgusting" to be less than explanatory of their position and more a statement of repulsion and hate.

Read my post again and you will see it was all about tolerance. Try starting with the last sentence.

[novatom]

Call me prejudiced (I'm gay, btw), but I can't help but feel contempt for this person who seems to me to be more interested in self promotion than in the actual birth. If this couple had any class, they would have worked harder to protect the privacy of the child. I don't necessarily hate them but I am disgusted by their behavior vis a vis the media.

[helen]

Absolutely agree with you, novatom. I'm trans and out, but I never, ever put my ego ahead of the safety and privacy of my family. This person is doing this for other reasons, and it's all about narcissism, imho.