Having given birth to a girl, a male who became Pʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴛ after a After a single Grindr hookup, being a “seahorse parent” has become automatic.
Ash Patrick SCʜᴀᴅe, 28, spent the two years prior to February 2020 attempting to avoid becoming Pʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴛ before he realized he would become a father.

He assumed that taking estrogen and testosterone blockers would now one, but as soon as he received the happy news, he discontinued his medications in order to carry and give birth to his daughter, Ronan Shiva, who is

The father of one was anxious to start his own family as a seahorse parent and claimed that his pregnancy had helped him get through the epidemic. He had struggled with his gender identification for as long as he could remember.

The term “seahorse parent” refers to a gestational parent who identifies as transgender or non-binary; the term comes from seahorses, where the male carries and gives birth to the young.

The West Virginia Ph.D. candidate and Jᴏʀᴅᴀɴ, his 28-year-old husband and solestay-at-home step-dad, are now co-parenting their son Ronan.

At the time I became Pʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴛ, I was using testosterone gel and estrogen blockers, and it never occurred to me that I may do so given how unusual it is.

I suffered mental health concerns and struggled in 2019 and 2020 as a result of going through a divorce. Ultimately, I hooked up on Grindr and unknowingly got Pʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴛ.

 

The pregnancy was challenging for Ash, and he frequently encountered a shortage of medical professionals who were informed and sympathetic. When I first learned I was Pʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴛ, hardly one wanted to take my case.

It was such a high-ʀɪsᴋ situation, with ᴍᴀɴy different ways the pregnancy could go wrong. I had difficulties with the pregnancy, particularly because of the pandemic.

However, the doctor I was assigned to helped me understand how I was feeling and what I was going through after he was. The medical team was excellent when I went into labor because they had already been briefed on my circumstances, but they were later changed by other staff members.

As she gets older, Ash is anxious to tell Ronan her birth story, and one of them must have been sᴜʀᴘʀɪsᴇd to see my hairy legs in the stirrups because they said, “Perhaps you should reconsider your gender identity.”

He also enjoys enlightening others when they approach him to ask if Ronan’s mother is in the picture. I want to be open and honest with Ronan the entire time, letting her know that trans men can sometimes become parents. She can hear me discussing the fact that I am both her mother and father.

When we are out and about, people frequently stop us and remark that her mother must be beautiful or, if I’m with Jᴏʀᴅᴀɴ, they ask where we adopted her. As a result, the conversation is often quite interesting when I initially explain things to them.