Raising a transgender child

[traci_k]

Raising a transgender child

http://www.chicagoparent.com/magazines/chicago-parent/2015-september/transgender-mom

Chicago Parent
Pamela Valentine
August 25, 2015


I didn't plan on being a mother. I met my future husband in August 2006 and by March 2007, we were pregnant. There's a lot of words and terms we toss around about this matter, that I guess I never really thought about at the time. Surprise, accident, mistake, oopsie. Anyone who's ever been unexpectedly expecting can probably throw a few more into the pot.

My pregnancy was absolutely normal, and on New Year's Eve, I gave birth to a beautiful, perfect, amazing baby girl. No. THE most beautiful, perfect, amazing baby girl. In 2009, her father and I got married and my almost 2-year-old wore a frilly white gown with red ribbons and flowers that matched my own. My 16x20 wedding canvas shows a smiling happy family: father, mother and daughter.

Thank God the canvas was a wedding gift, because I can't hang it anymore. At least not without a lengthy explanation and good deal of anguish.

When my daughter was 2, she told me she wanted to be a boy when she grew up. Friends and family said it was just a phase.
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