Ryan Sanderson was left shocked after learning that he was 10 weeks pregnant while undergoing his gender transition. Hearing the news, the man decided to pause his hormonal treatment and bring this child into the world. With the full support of his friends and family, Ryan Henderson is now a father of a beautiful son, Hendrick, who is now 2-years old.
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Ryan Sanderson, 24, a drama student from Rochdale, Manchester has given birth to a baby boy after learning that he was pregnant just over two months into his gender transition.
The man says: “I didn’t believe I could get pregnant when on testosterone, until I found out that I was."
“My ex-partner was also under the impression that he was infertile, but that obviously wasn’t the case."
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After finding out his pregnancy, Sanderson immediately stopped his hormone treatment in order to continue with the pregnancy, and was eventually thrilled to give birth to son, Hendrick, now two.
"I think more trans-men need to understand that it is still possible to get pregnant," he says.
Sanderson struggled with his gender identity from a young age and says he knew he was male from the age of seven and came out to his friends and family at 19.
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“Since coming out as Ryan, I’ve felt this freedom that I never felt as a girl," he says. "I do things for me instead of what society deems certain genders should do."
While going through his gender transition, he had a routine check-up with his doctors after beginning his testosterone treatment, he discovered he was actually 10 weeks pregnant.
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After learning this shocking truth, he decided to keep the child and continue with the pregnancy though the father-to-be was concerned about the impact it might have on the body dysmorphia he had been struggling with.
“It was a huge shock to the system," he explains. "But even though I was worried about what coming off testosterone may do to my body dysmorphia, I knew instantly that I wanted to have the baby.
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“I believed it to be fate," he continues. "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 into the testosterone treatment.
“When I found out I was pregnant, Hendrick truly became my everything.”
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Even though Sanderson has been struggling with body dysmorphia, he says he had full support through his pregnancy journey by friends and family.
“My GP was slightly worried about complications, but the course of my pregnancy ran pretty smoothly," he says.
“Thankfully, I had a wonderful team of midwives who would address me with the appropriate pronouns, and if they made mistakes they would always apologise.
“Sometimes they’d have questions, and it felt great to be able to answer them without them trying to offend me in anyway.”
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Sanderson is especially grateful to his mom, Janette, 57, who has been there through his entire journey to parenthood.
“Without her, I’d be lost, 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 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.”
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