The Oprah Winfrey Show Exclusive

Thomas and Nancy Beatie are expecting a baby girl this July. The twist, Nancy isn't the one carrying the couple's baby. Thomas, her transgender husband is and there's a lot of talk about this far from typical pregnancy. The couple decided to come out and tell their story first in an Oprah Winfrey and People Magazine exclusive interview. If you missed the show here are a few highlights:

1. Thomas Beatie, 34, was born a girl named Tracy to an Asian father and Caucasian mother.

2. He is the second child of three siblings which are males.

3. His mother committed suicide.

4. It was during college that Beatie had a three and a half year relationship with another woman.

5. Beatie after deciding to become a man opted not to undergo surgery to remove his reproductive organs because he wanted to have children one day.

6. Thomas and Nancy attempted to have a child previously. Last year after getting artificially inseminated by a specialist, Thomas has an ectopic pregnancy. The second time around, after facing some issues finding doctors that would perform the insemination, his wife Nancy performed the home insemination herself.

7. After going through nine doctors, the couple finally found Dr. Kimberly James who stated that she didn't have any problem being the couples obstetrician because, "they deserve quality medical care like everybody else."

On The Oprah Winfrey Show viewers were able to see the ultrasound. After being told their baby girl was healthy, a teary eyed Thomas said, "This is a miracle and we see her as our little miracle." The idea of Thomas becoming pregnant has some wondering, how? This persistent question has more to do with the constraints of how we define men and women. To understand this situation requires a clear definition of gender and sex. The two words often times are used interchangeably in casual conversation. But, things are far from clear cut these days and these words have to be looked at and used more distinctly. Looking at Thomas Beatie,he is pregnant and he is a man - on the outside. And his masculine identity is based on gender. Gender is defined by what society considers to be the roles, behaviors and patterns used to label men and women. Sex, on the other hand, refers to the person's reproductive anatomy.

Thomas Beatie's gender is male because that is what people on the whole see when they encounter him. His sex is female, because he has opted to keep his reproductive organs, which is why he has been able to become pregnant. This is a simple explanation but when describing "trans" men and women the social and psychological attributes defining their gender and sex is not. With situations like Beatie's catching media attention things may get a bit more confusing, before they get clearer. One thing's for sure we will need to redefine the constructs of masculine and feminine labels to keep up with the ever-changing ways of our society.

But come July, the Beatie's baby girl will come into the world and only one thing matters which Thomas Beatie summed up best when he said, "love makes a family."

Sources: http://www2.oprah.com/index.jhtml, http://www.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/index.html, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/687473/april_fools_day.html