The Science of Male Pregnancy

In the years since the first "test tube baby" was born in 1978, physicians and scientists from RYT Hospital have been working to develop a viable technique for the successful impregnation of male individuals. Illustrated to the right is a recent radiographic image of Mr. Lee, the first human subject to attempt this procedure, which shows the healthy fetus developing in his abdominal cavity.
Please note that RYT Hospital is not accepting new patients for this procedure. Male pregnancy is still in its experimental stage and will not be available to the public in the immediate future.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques were used to induce an ectopic pregnancy by implanting an embryo and placenta into the abdominal cavity, just under the peritoneum (the surrounding lining). Please read below for the step-by-step process.

• 
  HORMONES
  Oral doses of female hormones were administered to Mr. Lee to make him receptive to the pregnancy. The following graphs of his hormone treatment were prepared by Simone M. Lowell, M.D., Ph.D., Attending Physician and Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Reproductive Medicine at RYT Hospital-Dwayne Medical Center. Dr. Lowell's research is one of the primary reasons that this clinical procedure is now possible.




• IMPLANTATION
  IVF techniques were used to induce an ectopic pregnancy by implanting an embryo and placenta into the abdominal cavity, just under or into the peritoneum (the surrounding lining). There is a severe risk of massive hemorrhage when the ectopic ruptures; this is also the most common cause of women dying in pregnancy.
  




• 
  
  
  
  EMBRYO GROWTH
  Once implantation was complete, Mr. Lee stopped taking hormones, because the pregnancy itself, as expected, took over. The embryo secretes sufficient hormones to maintain its own growth and development.
  




• 
  
  
  
  GROWTH OF THE FETUS
  The duration of the pregnancy has been surprisingly normal, i.e. fetal heart monitoring, chorionic villus sampling, ultrasound scanning (as seen on this web site), and a constant watch over Mr. Lee's health and his enlarging stomach. "Men, as they grow older," Dr. Winston of London's Hammersmith Hospital observed playfully, "have already learned to cope with a steadily expanding waistline. Granted, well, this is a bit different."




• 
  
  
  
  
  DELIVERY
  The delivery will require open surgery (Cesarean section) to remove the baby and the placenta. Removal of the placenta is the real danger because it forms such intimate connections with surrounding vessels that massive hemorrhage is likely. Implantation may have also involved other structures in the abdomen, including the bowel and it is possible that parts of other organs may need to be removed. Several physicians who are well-accustomed to advanced and dangerous forms of ectopic pregnancies will be on-hand to handle any complications.
  

GLOCERY OF MEDICAL TERMS
Caesarean Section
The surgical incision of the walls of the abdomen (and uterus in normal cases) for the delivery of offspring.
Chorionic Villus Sampling
A procedure for obtaining a sample of chorionic villi (blood from the outside of the embryo) for the purpose of genetic testing, usually performed between the 9th and 12th weeks of pregnancy.
Ectopic Pregnancy
A gestation elsewhere than in the uterus. For women, this usually occurs in the fallopian tube. Symptoms include abdominal pain, fainting, and/or vaginal bleeding.
Embryo
The developing human individual from the time of implantation to the end of the eighth week after conception.
Hemorrhage
A copious discharge of blood from the blood vessels; heavy bleeding.
IVF
(in vitro fertilization)Fertilization outside the body in a laboratory. The term "test tube baby" is inaccurate since fertilization occurs in a small circular dish, not a test tube.
Peritoneum
The smooth serous membrane which lines the cavity of the abdomen. It surrounds the large interior organs and forms a closed (or nearly closed) sac.
Placenta
The vascular organ in most mammals that unites the fetus to the maternal uterus (or in this case, the abdominal wall) and mediates its metabolic exchanges through a more or less intimate association of mucosal with chorionic and usually allantoic tissues.