Pregnant Boi's Pregnant Introduction

Here is my last picture before becoming the pregnant boi.  I don't know why I snapped this on the way to the
Docs office that day, but I think it is kind of special.

Hello,
I am the pregnant boi.   Or in people first language, the boi who is pregnant...  but most people call me Chris.  There are a lot of different ways that I could describe how we got to this point, but it is a long and complicated story, with lots of plot twists, anti-climaxes, semi-climaxes and other types of plot driven narrative devices... But alas, this specific blog isn't about BECOMING a pregnant boi, as much as it is BEING a pregnant boi.  But since becoming pregnant is an important part of being pregnant, I will outline the important facts of the matter in a bulleted list.

• I have a wonderful wife, Amy, who supports me and loves me and wants nothing more than to raise a family together.  We started plotting how to have kids before our second official date... and not in a lesbian joke punch line type of way (which wouldn't really fit because neither of us identify as lesbians... again, another story entirely...), but in a "we fit together well enough that we could imagine bringing up a small portion of the next generation together" way.  I must also mention that we had known each other for a total of 4 years before that second date.  Kind of like two puzzle pieces that have always gone together, but were stuck at opposite ends of the puzzle table, and then when you put them next to each other, it is obvious they should have been together all along...  I could go on and say more romantic stuff all day, but I will spare you...  Long story short... no one really had to convince us that having kids was for us... it was kind of inevitable.
• Being pregnant was never in the plan for me.  I may spend some of my time explaining more about this... but simply put, I never had an overwhelming desire to carry a child.  Maybe gender politics had something to do with it, or the fact that child birth never seemed like something I could (or wanted) to handle...  But anyways, through our process of BECOMING pregnant, there were different things that popped up that led us in this direction...  Amy will carry a child some day... it IS something that she has always wanted.  But because of circumstances beyond our control (dumb insurance policies, poor doctors communications, maternity leave issues, among other things that could lead me into a full on soap-box rant, etc.) I ended up in the saddle, or maybe I should say stirrups....
• It took us a long time to get pregnant.  We wanted to be that couple who visited a doctor once, and took a home pregnancy test, and never looked back, but that wasn't in the cards.  It took us 10 tries over the course of 1 year and a quarter, which is draining physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually and many other -ally's.  The process vastly changed my outlook on life, and what sacrifice really means.  It also means that this baby will always be one that was fought for.  Throughout the whole process, there was one thing that didn't change... and that the fact that, no matter, we would be parents.
• But what this blog is really about is, I'm not a woman, or a man, or boy or girl.  I have adopted the title of Boi, because that feels most comfortable.  Obviously, to become pregnant one has to have female sexual organs: and that I do.  But that is one of the only things that is uncomplicatedly female about me.  I love who I am, and it has taken me a long time to get here.  I feel like I have finally reached a place in my life, where I can just be me and do what I want without someone telling me I can or can't do that because I am a boy or a girl.  In political terms, I would say, I am an independent, but usually caucus with the males.  Practical examples:  Showers (baby, bridal or otherwise) are not my thing... so we have a tradition that during these events I go to hang out with the boys.  However, I am also a sucker for pedicures, shopping and interior design (now on the stereotypes scales these could make me female, or a gay male...) and my love for color and flamboyance often has me thrown in with dandies.  So to sum it all up... I am just me... (except for the parts of me that, not unlike any other human being, wants to fit in, which we will also discuss ad nauseum.)

Loving this book.  You should read it too! 

So...  I am sure I am forgetting something... and will fill in the cracks later.  I just needed to start writing, or it was never going to happen.  When I first decided to become a pregnant boi, I looked all over for information about what this "condition" was really like...  My searches mostly turned up blanks...  You can find tons of articles on how to keep wearing high heels throughout your pregnancy, but there wasn't a lot of information on how to avoid switching out my fruit of the loom tighty whities for maternity underwear (which I didn't even know was a thing...).  I did find a great comic book called "Pregnant Butch" by AK Summers and I am currently winding my way through that amazing piece of literature.... and I am sure I could find something academically written somewhere about the queering of pregnancy, this and that.... but I am not looking for academics here.  I am looking for real language that pertains to real people that is accessible to and for the regular Joe, Jane, Joe-Jane  and Jamie Schmo's of the world. 

I guess I am inviting you on my journey.  I don't know what all I will talk about, but I think for the good of my sanity, I need this project.  If there are others pregnant bois, or pregnant bois to be out there in the world, or anyone really who draws any insight or comfort from my experience that is a complete bonus.