During his fourth pregnancy, one transgender father decided to hire a photographer to capture the home birth of his son, Tig. Yuval Topper-Erez intended the keep the photos private, as a beautiful memento of the moment Tig joined their family, but recently decided to share that moment with the world.
“When I saw the photos I suddenly got the sense that they need to be out there, as they represent so well two causes very close to my heart: normalization of home birth and normalization of trans and non-binary people giving birth,”
wrote Topper-Erez, in a touching Facebook post.
Tig was born in May 2019 in northern England after a “very rapid and intense labor.” Two midwives, including Topper-Erez’s partner, and the birth photographer were on hand for the experience.
“I hope, among other things, that this album will inspire birth workers and future seahorse dads(AKA gestational fathers,)” wrote Topper-Erez. “I know how meaningful images like this could have been for me before my first pregnancy and how meaningful it is for me to see images of fellow birthing trans and non-binary people to this day.”
Tig has two older siblings who slept through his home birth. “Our two older children were invited to join us for the birth but chose not to wake up and came to meet the new baby shortly after the birth was over,” wrote Topper-Erez. “I love when inspirational people share their births with the world and hoped that I could be that person for others,” Topper-Erez told Romper. “Specifically, other trans people who have often been told that they could not be parents. I also was hoping my photos would start conversations among birth workers about the variety of birthing people and bodies.”
Every family’s birth experience is different. Whether it’s at home or in a hospital, medicated or not, a simple or a complicated delivery—it’s worth remembering that there’s no one “right” way for a child to enter the world.
