Male Pregnancy: Fact or Fiction

Pregnancy is a term that is often associated with women. Men and women have been designed biologically to do different roles in conceiving and child birth. Almost a decade back it was impossible to belive that male pregnancy can be a reality. Well it is not a fiction any more. Modern medical science does belive that soon they will be able to ensure male pregnancy too. 1978 was the year when the first test tube baby was born. Since then the scientific community have been working on the possibilities of having male pregnancy.

Almost three decades have passed but the concept of male pregnancy is still in an experimental stage. There are some pregnancies called the Ectopic pregnancy that occurs outside the uterus. These pregnancies generally do not work out but the possibility of ectopic pregnancy leads us to belive that male pregnancy can be a possibility. As ectopic pregnancy do not need uterus similarly pregnancy can be induced in men too without the presence of uterus. Nevertheless, some scientists are working on the possibilities of developing a uterus that can be induced in the body of the man. This will reduce a lot of complications that is associated with male pregnancy.

The male pregnancy will have the following steps:

1. First of all female hormones will have to be introduced into the body of the man. It is possible to induce women hormones in the body of men with the help of medication and injections. This will prepare the body to accept a pregnancy. This method is also used in case of women who cannot conceive naturally.
2. In the second stage the IVF will be done. The embryo will be developed in a lab by combining a sperm and a human egg. This embryo will be placed in the body of the man for growing further. In this an embryo and a placenta will be placed in the abdomen of the man who wants to get pregnant. There is a huge risk of haemorrhage in this stage. This is one reason why women die in pregnancy. This is the most difficult stage in making the male pregnancy a success story.
3. Once the embryo is successfully planted into the body of the man it will start to grow on its own and will also create all the hormones that it needs. The man can now stop taking all the hormones that he was taking for so long.
4. The child will grow inside and the waistline will increase. Many say that male muscles in the stomach area are more muscular as a result they do not expand easily. However, it has been proved that in a little older man it is possible to get the tummy to expand. The doctors keep a close track of the pregnancy. Regular sonography is done. The heart rate of the child is checked from time to time. Pregnancy can change the waistline in a different way.
5. The last stage of the male pregnancy is the delivery. There is no way that a normal delivery can be done. The delivery has to be a C section only. While operating the child and the placenta will have to be removed together. Removing the child is not that risky and can be done easily. The main challenge is to remove the placenta. As the placenta has been placed in the body for a few months it must have got connected to the various organs. Removing the placenta can lead to haemorrhage. It can also mean damage to the different organs of the body. However, the medical fraternity is positive that they can get this done too but they will need doctors from different fields to do this surgery.

Biological Child

There are many single males who would like to have a biological child of their own. If the male pregnancy becomes a reality then these people can make the most of it. Many women cannot conceive or carry a full term pregnancy even they can use this mechanism and get a child of their own. The medical fraternity is keen on making this a possibility but the religious and the social beliefs are a major hurdle on the way of developing this theory. The religious leaders do feel that by doing this man will be changing the rule of the nature. Some feel that this is unnatural and can change the social setup.

The debate will perhaps go on for a long-time. However, it is indeed interesting to imagine that something like this can be achieved. If this can be done it will be a miraculous breakthrough. Perhaps we need more technology before this theoretical experiment can be made into a reality. So far we have often seen science do the impossible. Perhaps this theory of male pregnancy is another such impossible theory that may turn into reality soon.