A transgender man, Ryan Sanderson has revealed how he gave birth to a son ‘surprisingly’ as he never thought he would get pregnant.

Sanderson, a drama student, from Rochdale, Manchester, has been in the process of transitioning from female to male and taking hormone treatments for years.

Before transitioning

He also believed his now-ex partner was infertile. But despite all this, nine weeks into hormone treatments, Ryan, 24, discovered he was pregnant in 2019. Now, he has a son, Hendrick.

‘I didn’t believe I could get pregnant when on testosterone, until I found out that I was,’ said Ryan to Metro UK.

‘I think more trans men need to understand that they can get pregnant. My ex-partner was under the impression that he was infertile, but that wasn’t the case.’

Ryan says he is now overjoyed to have given birth to his first child.

‘I knew instantly that I wanted to have the baby,’ said the dad.

‘I believed it to be fate, I’ve never been a devout follower of religion, but I felt like it was a sign to have a child before I was in too deep with testosterone treatments. When I found out I was pregnant, Hendrick truly became my everything.’

In 2021 he continued his hormonal treatments and says he has now finished the course .

‘My GP was slightly worried about complications, but the course of my pregnancy ran pretty smoothly. Thankfully, I had a wonderful team of midwives that would address me with the appropriate pronouns, and if they made mistakes they would always apologise.
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‘Sometimes they’d have questions, and it felt great to be able to answer them without them trying to offend me in anyway.’

Ryan says his ex-partner has told him he won’t be involved in training the child , so he’ll be a ‘baby daddy’ with the help of his supportive mum, Janette.

‘Without her, I’d be lost,’ he said. ‘She does so much for both Hendrick and I, and acts like a super-hero co-parent.

‘She’s read all of the books and understands the way in which I’d like him to be bought up.

‘My ex-partner doesn’t want to be in the picture, but I’ve got the full support of the rest of my family and friends.’

Speaking about his transition process, Ryan said;

‘I’d struggled for so long to become my true self and had even had to go with a private GP in order to get testosterone,’ he said.
‘I knew that I was a man from the age of seven and came out at 19.
‘Since coming out as Ryan, I’ve felt this freedom that I never felt as a girl, I do things for me instead of what society deems certain genders should do.
‘I got to chest feed Hendrick when he was born, as I knew it was the healthiest and best way to aid him in his growth.
‘In 2021, I had top surgery to remove my breasts which felt amazing, although I am sad at the thought of not being able to chest feed any of my future children.