Britain's first pregnant man gives birth to a baby girl after conceiving using a sperm donor he met on Facebook

By Tom Payne of The Daily Mail

Britain's first pregnant man has given birth to a girl, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Hayden Cross was born a girl and was legally male when he paused transgender hormone treatment to conceive using a sperm donor he had met on Facebook.

The former Asda worker, 21, made headlines around the world and provoked an ethical debate when he announced his pregnancy in January - thought to have been the first case of its kind in the UK.

Last night his family confirmed he had given birth to a girl, Trinity-Leigh Louise Cross, on June 16, and said both were healthy and doing well. It means Mr Cross has become the first known transgender man to give birth in Britain.

Trinity-Leigh was born at the Women's Centre, the maternity wing of Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. The birth was registered at Gloucester Register Office on Wednesday. The birth certificate has Hayden Cross listed as the mother but there is no father registered on the document.

Mr Cross, who changed his name from Paige to Hayden by deed poll, said in January that the baby was conceived in September. The sperm donor's identity has never been revealed, with the sperm handed over in a pot on the doorstep of Mr Cross's flat in Gloucester.

Last night Mr Cross's grandmother confirmed he had given birth 48 hours after his mother Christine Edgeworth had her fifth child. Pam Edgeworth said: "I'm delighted. I became a grandmother again and a great-grandmother within 48 hours. Both mothers and babies are well."

In January, Mr Cross told how he was living as a man but was desperate to have a baby which he wouldn't be able to do once his sex change was complete.

He had started hormone treatment to complete his transition three years ago, but stopped it in September last year so that he could become pregnant.

Originally he wanted to freeze his eggs on the NHS so that he could have a baby in the future, but medical chiefs refused to authorise the £4,000 ($7083) procedure. Unable to afford to do it privately, he decided to have a child straight away by finding a sperm donor.

It is understood that Mr Cross now plans to resume the transition. The next stage will include having his ovaries removed.

Mr Cross's decision has bitterly divided his family. His uncle Sean Hodson, from Gloucester, previously told the Mail: "I fear this child is going to grow up confused. It is confusing for me. Hayden had a difficult upbringing and perhaps if her childhood had been more stable she wouldn't be in this situation now. I cannot get it into my head that she is changing from a girl to a boy."

Grandmother Mrs Edgeworth said: "She's asked me to call her Hayden and I say, 'I can't, love'. In my eyes she will always be Paige. She wasn't born a boy."

The pregnancy also raised ethical questions among experts. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said the use of an anonymous sperm donor posed health risks. They also pointed out there would be no way of telling who else the donor might have given sperm to - leading to the possibility that Trinity-Leigh could unknowingly meet a half-sibling later in life.

Mr Cross's upbringing was troubled and his father Desmond was a drug taker when he met Christine. Although Mr Cross grew up as a girl called Paige, his family said the 'tomboy' shunned sister Sky's interest in dolls and would much rather play football with brothers Jordan and Robert.

Gender reassignment costs the NHS around £29,000 ($51,350) per patient and some 3,000 a year are treated.

The world's first pregnant man was American Thomas Beatie in 2007. Mr Beatie, from Arizona, was also born female. He went on to have three children using donor sperm.