How We Do Family : From Adoption to Trans Pregnancy, What We Learned About Love and LGBTQ Parenthood

An LGBTQ memoir with insights on raising a family—from a gay transgender man who shares his experience with both pregnancy and adoption Trystan Reese Is A Gay Transgender Man Married To Biff, A Gay Man Who Is Not Transgender. The Young Couple Had Been Together A Little Over A Year When They Learned That Biff’s One-year-old Niece, Hailey, And Three-year-old Nephew, Lucas, Were About To Be Removed From Their Home By Child Protective Services Because Of Abuse And Neglect. Trystan And Biff Made An Immediate Decision To Take Them In. Overnight, They Became Parents To Two Tiny, Scared Kids And Took The First Steps Toward Building A Safe, Loving, And Nurturing Home For Their New Family. After Five Years Of Legal Battles They Adopted Hailey And Lucas, And Soon After, Decided To Grow Their Family Biologically With A Child That Trystan Would Carry. He Had A Pre-pregnancy Check-up, Stopped Taking Testosterone, Became Pregnant, And In 2017 Gave Birth To Leo. In How We Do Family, Trystan Weaves Together His Personal Story Of Finding Self-love, Growing Into His Relationship And Role As An Adoptive Parent, Carrying And Giving Birth To A Biological Child, And Raising Confident And Socially Aware Children—all While Sharing Lessons He’s Learned About Being The Best Parent, Partner, And Person That You Can Be. While There Are Countless Details That Make Trystan’s Non-traditional Family Unique, There Are Many More Ways That They Are Just Like Any Other. Trystan Reese is a gay transgender man married to Biff, a gay man who is not transgender. The young couple had been together a little over a year when they learned that Biff's one-year-old niece, Hailey, and three-year-old nephew, Riley, were about to be removed from their home by Child Protective Services because of abuse and neglect. Trystan and Biff made an immediate decision to take them in. Overnight, they became parents to two tiny, scared kids and took the first steps toward building a safe, loving, and nurturing home for their new family. After five years of legal battles they adopted Hailey and Riley, and soon after, decided to grow their family biologically with a child that Trystan would carry. He had a pre-pregnancy check-up, stopped taking testosterone, became pregnant, and in 2017 gave birth to Leo. In How We Do Family, Trystan weaves together his personal story of finding self-love, growing into his relationship and role as an adoptive parent, carrying and giving birth to a biological child, and raising confident and socially aware children--all while sharing lessons he's learned about being the best parent, partner, and person that you can be. While there are countless details that make Trystan's non-traditional family unique, there are many more ways that they are just like any other As featured in People magazine: One LGBTQ family’s inspiring, heartfelt story of the many alternative paths that lead to a loving family, with lessons for every parent Trystan and Biff had been dating for just a year when the couple learned that Biff’s niece and nephew were about to be removed from their home by Child Protective Services. Immediately, Trystan and Biff took in one-year-old Hailey and three-year-old Lucas, becoming caregivers overnight to two tiny survivors of abuse and neglect. From this unexpected start, the young couple built a loving marriage and happy home—learning to parent on the job. They adopted Hailey and Lucas, tied the knot, and soon decided to try for a baby that Trystan, who is transgender, would carry. Trystan’s groundbreaking pregnancy attracted media fanfare, and the family welcomed baby Leo in 2017. In this inspiring memoir, Trystan shares his unique story alongside universal lessons that will help all parents through the trials of raising children. How We Do Family is a refreshing new take on family life for the LGBTQ community and beyond. Through every tough moment and touching memory, Trystan shows that more important than getting things right is doing them with love. "An LGBTQ family's inspiring story of building a loving home, with lessons all families can use"-- Provided by publisher