WORLD'S FIRST PREGNANT MALE

WORLD'S FIRST PREGNANT MALE?

That's right! Mr.Lee Mingwie is the first pregnant male in the world.As an artist who has had solo exhibitions at The Whitney Museum of American Art and The Cleveland Museum of Art, Lee Mingwei explores the evanescent and diurnal cycles of living. His work is based on such basic human activities as cooking, letterwriting, and now child-bearing.

In the years since the first "test tube baby" was born in 1978, physicians and scientists from RYT Hospital have been working to develop a viable technique for the successful impregnation of male individuals.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF MR.LEE

In vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques were used to induce an ectopic pregnancy by implanting an embryo and placenta into the abdominal cavity, just under the peritoneum (the surrounding lining). Please read below for the step-by-step process.

1. HORMONES
   Oral doses of female hormones were administered to Mr. Lee to make him receptive to the pregnancy. The following graphs of his hormone treatment were prepared by Simone M. Lowell, M.D., Ph.D., Attending Physician and Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Reproductive Medicine at RYT Hospital-Dwayne Medical Center. Dr. Lowell's research is one of the primary reasons that this clinical procedure is now possible.

2. IMPLANTATION
   IVF techniques were used to induce an ectopic pregnancy by implanting an embryo and placenta into the abdominal cavity, just under or into the peritoneum (the surrounding lining). There is a severe risk of massive hemorrhage when the ectopic ruptures; this is also the most common cause of women dying in pregnancy.

3. EMBRYO GROWTH
   Once implantation was complete, Mr. Lee stopped taking hormones, because the pregnancy itself, as expected, took over. The embryo secretes sufficient hormones to maintain its own growth and development.

4. GROWTH OF THE FETUS
   The duration of the pregnancy has been surprisingly normal, i.e. fetal heart monitoring, chorionic villus sampling, ultrasound scanning (as seen on this web site), and a constant watch over Mr. Lee's health and his enlarging stomach. "Men, as they grow older," Dr. Winston of London's Hammersmith Hospital observed playfully, "have already learned to cope with a steadily expanding waistline. Granted, well, this is a bit different."

5. DELIVERY
   
   The delivery will requires open surgery (Cesarean section) to remove the baby and the placenta. Removal of the placenta is the real danger because it forms such intimate connections with surrounding vessels that massive hemorrhage is likely. Implantation may have also involved other structures in the abdomen, including the bowel and it is possible that parts of other organs may need to be removed. Several physicians who are well-accustomed to advanced and dangerous forms of ectopic pregnancies will be on-hand to handle any complications.

Mr.lee's answers to an interview by a writer Janice Versalius of PaperVeins magazine

Janice
Mr. Lee, as we just discussed, male pregnancy may prove to be an extremely dangerous medical procedure at this point – particularly when your doctors perform your Cesarian operation. Why have you chosen to do this?

Mr. Lee
A lot of people have cast this endeavor as something terribly monstrous – a startling example of how science and medicine have simply gone too far. From my perspective, however, I am simply bringing a child into this world. There is nothing more natural and beautiful on this earth than that. This is something that I've always wanted to do.

Janice
How would you respond to people who would consider you a pregnant transvestite and not a pregnant man?

Mr. Lee
Well, it's not really accurate. I'm still male afterall – biologically and anatomically. It's interesting that some people believe the definition of being a man is so precarious! And unlike the men who feel this strong desire to physically become women, I've never wished for that ... and I haven't done that. I have, however, always wanted to have a much stronger empathy with women. I love my mother and sister very much, and I'm very happy to share in something they have both experienced. Being pregnant is a wonderful feeling. It's something that all human beings – both men and women – should experience before they die. This process has been a spiritual rebirth for me.

Janice
Well, I must say, a pregnant man isn't something you see everyday.

Mr. Lee
Actually, I see this pregnancy as being very much in keeping with Buddhist philosophical thought. There is a strong connection I feel between myself, the child within my body, and the world around us both. And I think there is a greater awareness and empathy I now share with my mother and sister as a result of my pregnancy. Most of all, there is a level of insight and understanding about being alive – of sharing your life – in ways that I've never realized before.

Janice

One last question, Mr. Lee. Do you have a name for your baby yet?

Mr. Lee
I think I'll only know the name when the child is born. I guess we'll have to wait and see!