Pregnant man - Thomas Beatie's first picture of baby girl

Thomas Beatie, better known as the world’s first pregnant man, has sold a picture of his baby girl to an American magazine for a rumoured £150,000 ($300,000).

Thomas Beatie with his baby: The labour lasted 40 hours Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Transgender Mr Beatie is shown cradling four-week-old Susan Juliette as she rests on a bed in the photo published on the front cover of the celebrity title People.

Wearing a white dress with purple and green detail and a large bow, the baby bears a striking resemblance to her father.

Susan Juliette was born at the St Charles Medical Center in Bend, Oregon on June 29 weighing 9lbs, 5oz, three months after news of her pioneering conception made headlines across the world.

"She's so precious, I just can't stop staring at her," Mr Beatie told the magazine, disclosing that the labour lasted 40 hours.

"When Susan finally came out, it was like in slow motion," he said. "I was full of wonder."

Mr Beatie, who was born a woman but is legally a man after undergoing partial sex change procedures ten years ago, fathered the child with sperm from an anonymous donor. He was able to do so because he had kept his reproductive organs.

His wife Nancy is breastfeeding the baby girl, using hormones and a breast pump to stimulate lactation.

But the couple have been criticised for embracing the publicity that their case has generated.

They have previously sold photos of Mr Beatie in the late stages of pregnancy to a British tabloid, and in April showed off his ultrasound scans during an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show.

Mr Beatie and his wife received around $300,000 from People for the baby photos, according to a magazine source quoted on the New York gossip website Gawker.

The sum, while substantial, is significantly less than is offered for the first photos of the babies of Hollywood A-list celebrities. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have reportedly sold images of their new-born twins for $11 million.

Pregnant man - gives birth to baby girl !!!

A nurse takes care of a newborn in a maternity ward.

A US man who was born a woman before undergoing gender realignment surgery has given birth to a baby girl, US media reported.

Thomas Beatie, who is legally male but decided to keep his female sex organs during chest reconstruction surgery and testosterone therapy, attracted worldwide attention in April after revealing his pregnancy.

The 34-year-old gave birth to a baby girl at a hospital in Bend, Oregon, on June 29, People Magazine reported Thursday.

"The only thing different about me is that I can't breastfeed my baby. But a lot of mothers don't," the magazine quoted him as saying.

It said the girl is Beatie's first child, and he had given birth naturally, not by Caesarean section.

Beatie, who sports a beard, was dubbed the 'pregnant man' after appearing on Oprah Winfrey's television talkshow to discuss his pregnancy.

"I feel it's not a male or female desire to have a child. It's a human need. I'm a person and I have the right to have a biological child," he told the chat show queen.

Beatie's unusual situation first became public when he wrote an article in the leading US gay magazine The Advocate in March, entitled "Labor of Love."

"To our neighbors, my wife, Nancy, and I don't appear in the least unusual," he wrote, explaining that his wife was unable to have a child after undergoing a hysterectomy.

So he chose to become pregnant by artificial insemination, he said.

"Our situation sparks legal, political, and social unknowns," Beatie wrote, adding the couple had experienced opposition from health care professionals, friends and family.

One doctor refused to treat the couple, after consulting an ethics board.

"How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am," Beatie wrote.

Thomas Beatie, the so-called “pregnant man” gave birth to a baby girl on 29 June in Oregon, according to this report by Reuters.

Father and daughter were said to be “healthy and doing well”.

It is reported that the baby was not delivered by Caesarean section, but no other details about the birth were given.

“The only thing different about me is that I can’t breast-feed my baby. But a lot of mothers don’t”, Mr Beatie was quoted as saying.