Chicago transgender couple featured on new TLC special ‘My Pregnant Husband’
A South Side transgender couple share their journey to parenthood on the new TV special “My Pregnant Husband.”
Myles and Precious Brady-Davis welcomed their daughter, Zayn, in December 2019. Cameras follow the couple during Myles’ third trimester as he expresses discomfort with his body, faces a pregnancy complication and recounts a “heartbreaking” encounter with police officers he said mistook his baby bump for stolen merchandise. The hour-long special, which also features a Seattle-area couple, is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. Thursday on the TLC network.
“So often when we see narratives of trans folks, we are demonized or are murdered, and our lives don’t have value,” Precious told the Tribune by phone. “We really wanted to show our love in a way that reflected who we are.”
Precious, a Sierra Club communications manager, and Myles, communications director for Equality Illinois, met at the Center on Halsted in 2013 and married three years later. Precious was the first transgender bride on TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress.”
Not long after the wedding, the couple started family planning, a process that involved Precious going off her gender-reinforcing hormones so she could produce sperm to fertilize Myles’ eggs. The couple endured two years of in vitro fertilization. Zayn was their last embryo.
“We know that queer and trans folks, along with gender-nonconforming folks, specifically don’t have road maps when it comes to fertility and comes to family planning,” Precious said. “That’s not something that is often brought into the discussion when you’re navigating transition.”
Once he got pregnant, Myles weathered various challenges. He struggled with gender dysphoria, which stems from a disconnect between a person’s gender identity and the gender assigned at birth. Myles identifies as transmasculine and said looking at his chest in the mirror triggered gender dysphoria. He also had to deal with the way others looked at him.
In one incident in the fall, Myles said he had finished shopping for a last-minute baby shower outfit at South Loop’s Roosevelt Collection when he was approached by Chicago police officers who were “extremely rough.” He said he was mistaken for a thief, but police quickly realized he was not stealing clothes when a female officer lifted his shirt and saw his stomach.
“It was one of the scariest moments I’ve ever been in in my entire life,” he said. “Even the baby knew what was going on because she’s kicking like crazy. It was uncomfortable for both of us, so I start screaming at the top of my lungs, ‘Hey, I don’t know what’s going on, but please be gentle. I’m eight months pregnant. Please, I don’t know what’s going on, but please be gentle.’”
Cameras didn’t capture that encounter, but the show’s crew was on hand when the couple learned that Myles had a cervix problem that increased the chance of preterm labor. Myles gave birth at Northwestern Medicine Prentice Women’s Hospital after being induced. Northwestern Medicine recently launched a clinical program to make trans healthcare a priority.
Northwestern Medicine media relations manager Kara Spak said Dr. Julie Barton, Myles’ obstetrician, and the nursing staff that attended Zayn’s birth were enthusiastic about participating in the TV special. Precious said most of the production crew were not in the delivery room.
“We wanted to make sure that Myles, that his privacy was respected, that he was honored during the birth process, because this is a sacred moment for our family,” Precious said. “I specifically wanted Myles to be centered while he was giving birth.”
It’s been seven months since Myles gave birth. The couple made headlines earlier this year when it was revealed Illinois allowed Myles to be listed as the father on Zayn’s birth certificate and Precious as the mother. The state said it was the first time it had been informed of a transgender live birth.
Precious — whose book, “I Have Always Been Me: A Memoir,” is due out next year — said she and Myles “would like to continue expanding our family.” In the meantime, they are enjoying watching Zayn grow.
“She is the light of our life,” Precious said. “She is talking up a storm. She loves ‘Sesame Street.’ She is an avid smiler. She is just a huge ball of energy. She has just added to our lives exponentially in a way that I don’t think we ever thought was possible.”
tswartz@tribpub.com
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