'I'LL BE BEST DAD EVER'

Pregnant man looking forward to birth… but says it would be easier if tot was a boy as he confirms baby will be delivered by NHS

Hayden, 20, is 16 weeks along and is hoping for a baby boy

EXCITED Hayden Cross last night looked forward to giving birth — and vowed to be “the best dad ever”.

Hayden, 20, who is 16 weeks pregnant, outlined his plans for the child and revealed it would be easier if it is a boy.

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Expecting . . . 20 year old Hayden

The Manchester United fan, who was born a girl, said: “I want the baby to have the best of everything. I will be the greatest dad.

“I don’t mind what I have as long as the baby is healthy, but it would be better if it is a boy. Then I can play football with him and go to the rugby and all that stuff.

“I can do that with a girl as well, but if it is a boy then I will find it easier to dress him.

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Hayden is 16 weeks pregnant

“A girl might be difficult. It is awkward for a dad to have to explain periods and other women’s things like that.”

Unemployed Hayden, who used to work for Asda and a clothes shop, aims to find a job once the baby is one year old.

He insisted: “I will go back to work at Asda or something. I will work anywhere.

“I’ll put the baby in childcare so I can provide for it.

“I want to save up lots of money so I can send the baby to private school, then they will have the best education.

“I don’t mind what the kid does when it is older. As long as they are happy and respectful, I don’t care what they do.

“I just want to make sure that they have the best in life and the best opportunities. I will be proud no matter what.”

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Hayden’s mum doesn’t recognises him as a man

However the dad-to-be did insist: “I won’t breastfeed . . . I hate my breasts. I want to have the child and get back to the full transitioning.”

He feared breastfeeding could be bad for the child as he would be taking testosterone again to continue his gender-change process.

Hayden wants to be named as the father on the birth certificate.

He says he is dedicated to bringing up the infant as a single dad and will not bring anyone else into the child’s life.

He added: “I will be all the parent that the baby needs on my own. I don’t want anything else to complicate and confuse that.

“I will stay single, especially when the child is young. It is a sacrifice I’ll make for the baby because I want it to have a secure life.

“Since I came out as trans I haven’t had any sexual partners anyway. I don’t want one.

“I don’t want it to get confusing.

“I want to have the transition first and then possibly settle down.

“I don’t want to get in a relationship that might not last with someone who likes me now and for the body I have now.

“Then when I have had the surgery they might decide that is not what they want. How would I know that a ­person could support me through all of that?

“Most people wouldn’t like that kind of thing, they would find it too much so I would rather do it on my own.”

Hayden, who is on benefits and is living in a council bedsit in Gloucester, is already looking to move home once the baby arrives.

Hayden found the perm donor on Facebook

He explained: “I have applied for a new flat so hopefully once I have the baby I can move into somewhere bigger and the baby will have more room and a bedroom to itself.

“It will be the most important thing in my life and I will make sure that the baby always has everything it needs.”

Hayden will become one of about 400,000 single dads in Britain.

After his child is born he will return to the clinic and continue his gender-transition process.

The next stage will involve removing Hayden’s breasts before his ovaries are then taken out. Reflecting on his own childhood, Hayden admitted: “It was bog ­standard really.”

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Hayden’s NHS card recognises him as male

He lived with his parents, sister Sky, 21, and brothers Jordan, 19, Robert, 16 in a three-bedroom home in Gloucester.

Hayden, who now also has a two-year-old brother Denzel Douglas, said: “My mum and dad were together until I was around 14.

“They split up because my dad went back on drugs.

“I shared a bedroom with my sister as we were both girls. We would play with dolls and stuff.

“When I was young I didn’t really know I was trans, I didn’t really know much about it or think anything of the fact I felt different — but I did feel different.

“I went to an all-girls school, I hated it from the first day.

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“I was kicked out when I was about 14 because I didn’t like it. I just didn’t feel like I fitted in.

“I didn’t like doing the things that the other girls liked doing.

“They were all really bitchy and that just isn’t me. They’d argue all the time and I was never about that kind of thing. I preferred playing football and doing sports.

“I’d always play with all the older guys. I’d play football with them. I didn’t really have any friends that were girls. Then I went to a referral unit, it was like a naughty school.

“I felt like I fitted in there because it was mainly boys so I made more friends.

“There was a built-in football pitch so we could play whenever we wanted.

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Hayden was kicked out of an all-girls school at 14

“My parents called me a tomboy. I thought I was as well.

“It was only when I met my friend who is trans that I realised it was OK not to fit into the boxes that are given to you.

“I moved out of my mum’s house when about 15 — it was after my parents split up and her new boyfriend moved in.

“I cut my hair off as soon as I had a choice. I didn’t want it long.

“I stopped wearing dresses and girly things.”

Talking about his first sexual experiences, Hayden said he felt “confused” about his feelings and had school crushes on both boys and girls. He said: “I went out with a few people but I didn’t fancy either sex more than another.

“I still don’t put myself in a box on that. I am bisexual.

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Hayden always felt like a tomboy

“I don’t fancy people because of their gender, I fancy people because of who they are. But I do prefer males than females — but that isn’t because of any reason.

“I feel like that is what I am quite comfortable with.

“My first sexual relationship was at 13 with a boy. We had sex but it was just like normal experimenting.

“I first properly went out with a guy when I was 16 for a year and a half. My first girlfriend was when I was 15, I was with her a few months, it wasn’t very serious.

“I had a serious girlfriend when I was 17. That lasted about a year and we lived together.

“But we split after things stopped working out.”


MALES DELIVER

THE world’s first pregnant man was Thomas Beatie — dad of three kids.

Thomas, 42, was born a female but had hormone treatment while keeping his female reproductive organs.

He became pregnant for the first time in 2007 with triplets but lost them to ectopic pregnancy.

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Thomas Beatie . . . the first pregnant man

Thomas, of Phoenix, Arizona, US, went on to have three kids using donor sperm.

Canadian Trevor MacDonald, 31, revealed last year how he breast-fed his first child in a men’s toilet in a restaurant. He said: “It was this weird scenario.”

Expecting his second child, he headed to a hospital at night to find a security guard demanding to know why a bearded man needed emergency access to an obstetrics unit.

Britain’s unnamed first “male mother” gave birth to a girl in 2011.

In the same year, Yuval Topper, 24, gave birth in Israel.

Spanish transsexual Ruben Noe Coronado Jimenez was reportedly pregnant with twins in 2009 before having a miscarriage.

It's baby I fear for the most - by Deidre Sanders, Sun Agony Aunt

I CAN understand how Hayden feels he was pressured into having a baby before he was ready, but the person I am so worried for in all this is the baby he is expecting.

Hayden’s childhood must have been insecure and lacking a constant and caring father-figure. He was a troubled boy who was vulnerable to any person or influence who made him feel special. It’s telling that Hayden’s overwhelming drive now is to have a child rather than a relationship. It’s how girls who have had an unhappy family background often react — imagining it will create the happy family life they missed out on. But it often doesn’t work out like that. Hayden says his mum is going to help him raise his baby, although she does not recognise him as a man. Imagine the confusing messages the baby is going to get. I just hope Hayden gets lots of understanding and informed support.

It's twice as tough - by Carol Cooper, Sun Doctor

BEING pregnant can be tough, especially when you’re not ready for it.

But Hayden has the added challenge of transitioning to become male. This involves social and psychological preparation and biological changes that often include drugs and surgery. Hayden is in the centre of two utterly opposing changes. It’s no surprise he’s conflicted and angry. I hope for his child’s sake he comes to terms with the pregnancy and the responsibilities ahead.


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