PROUD Hayden Cross today becomes the first British man to reveal: "I'm pregnant."

The former Asda worker, born a girl 20 years ago, is legally male and has begun hormone treatment.

But he put his transition on hold to have a baby with donor sperm.

Hayden, who lives in Gloucester and is four months pregnant, said: "I want the baby to have the best.

"I'll be the greatest dad."

Dad-to-be Hayden found a sperm donor on Facebook to make himself pregnant after putting his gender change on hold.

Hayden, born a girl 20 years ago, had lived as a man for three years and was taking male hormones — but was desperate to have a baby.

The unemployed former Asda worker asked the NHS to freeze his eggs before he completed his full transition, in the hope he might have children years later.

But when they refused to carry out the £4,000 process, he feared he would never become a biological parent to his own child.

So Hayden decided to use an anonymous sperm donor he found on Facebook and go ahead with the pregnancy immediately — using his local ­hospital’s NHS maternity services.

Now 16 weeks pregnant, he plans to have the baby before returning straight away to complete the ­transition process, which will remove his breasts and ovaries.

Hayden told The Sun on Sunday: “I faced the prospect of not becoming the man I am supposed to be, physically, or a dad.

“So I didn’t feel like I had any choice but to have a baby now then get back to transitioning.

I want kid now, then it's back to transition

“In September I got pregnant by a sperm donation.

“I found the donor on the internet.

“I looked on Facebook for a group and found one — it’s been shut down now.

“I didn’t have to pay.

“The man came to my house, he passed me the sperm in a pot and I did it via a syringe.

“I felt I’d no choice, I couldn’t afford a proper clinic.

“I don’t know who the bloke was.

“To be honest I can’t remember anything about him.

“He wouldn’t even tell me his name.

“He didn’t want any contact.

“He said he was just doing it to help people.

“It was the first attempt and it worked.

“I was really lucky.”

Yet Hayden admits he now feels uncomfortable carrying a child and struggles with the physical changes.

He went on: “I found I was pregnant two weeks after the sperm was inserted.

“It was mixed emotions.

“I was happy but I also knew it would be backtracking on my transition.

“It’s like I have given myself one thing, but taken away something else from myself in the meantime.

“It is a very female thing to carry a baby and it goes against everything I feel in my body.

“I was finally starting to become myself and become a man physically — but now my body is going in the opposite direction.

“It makes me angry that I’ve been put through this.

“Carrying a baby is meant to be a happy time, but in my body it feels wrong.

“I just couldn’t face being years down the line and still waiting to transition so that I can have a kid.

“I wanted the kid now so that I can have the transition before I get old.

“I want to enjoy being the way I was meant to be.

“If I’d waited until I was 25 to have a kid then had the whole transition process ahead of me, it would be years.

“Doing it now means it’ll be 18 months out of my life then I can go straight back to my transition.”

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Hayden, of Gloucester, was on the NHS gender transition process, which costs an average of £29,000.

His physical switch — using male hormones which have set in motion irreversible changes — was already under way and he was receiving gender-change counselling at a local clinic run by the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust.

He blames the NHS’s refusal to freeze his eggs for the fact he will now have to raise his child alone.

I wanted to freeze my eggs but NHS panel said no

Hayden, whose maternity card reads Mr Hayden Cross, added: “If they hadn’t refused, I wouldn’t have had kids till I was at least 25.

“I wanted to explore first.

“I could have been in a steady relationship by then and been able to offer a child two parents to raise it.

“Now I will be a single dad who is trans.

“I’ll be having surgery, so it’s going to be far more difficult.

“If I was with a man we could have used a surrogate — and if I was with a woman then she could carry the baby with my egg.

“People think you can’t be a man and have a baby but it’s not that simple.

“This is my only chance.”

The total cost of gender reassignment is £29,000 per patient, including support and surgery.

The total bill to the NHS in England in 2014 was £17.13million and in 2015 the budget was increased to £22.72million.

NHS England says approximately 3,000 transgender patients per year are at some stage of their treatment.

Two thirds are men becoming women, costing £17million a year.

About 330 surgical procedures were carried out in 2014-15 at four specialist private clinics in London and Brighton.

The added cost of freezing eggs is around £4,000 per cycle — and Hayden claims that in his case the NHS refused to foot the bill.

He said: “The doctor said I had to write a letter to a panel about why I wanted my eggs frozen.

“The first was rejected, so I tried again, but that was turned down too.

“I was devastated.

“It was like they were saying I shouldn’t procreate because I am trans — it’s not right.

“I felt that I had to get pregnant and there wasn’t really an option.

“It was either do it, or face the fact I would never be a biological father.

“Having a biological child has always meant a lot to me.

“I’ve always wanted kids.

“I don’t know why, but it’s the one thing I’ve always wanted.”

After the NHS rejection letters Hayden considered freezing his eggs at a private clinic but couldn’t afford the £1,000 consultation fee and average £5,000 cost to freeze eggs per cycle.

In desperation he turned to his Facebook donor and now already has a small pregnancy bump.

But he also has facial hair and a deeper voice due to his hormone treatment, which has since been put on hold to protect the baby.

Man passed me sperm in a pot… I did it with a syringe

He admitted: “I am worried about how I will look and what people will think and say about me.
“I think some will judge me because I came out as trans and now I am pregnant.

“But I’m glad I’m doing it as I hope inspires other people to be happy in themselves.

“And I hope it gets the NHS to realise I was left with no other choice but this.”

Hayden, who had school crushes on both boys and girls and whose parents split when he was 14, was initially “confused” by his feelings, but now calls himself bisexual.

He finally realised he wanted to be a man after meeting transgender Shane Hope, 26 — his best friend and birthing partner.

It makes me angry I've been put through this

Hayden said: “It literally hit me like a wake-up call.

“I thought, ‘That is why I feel the way I do’.

“When he explained what he’d been through I said, ‘That’s me too’.

“I woke up one morning in 2013, spoke to Shane and said, ‘I know I am trans, I want to change my name’.

He ordered me a deed poll and I changed everything.

“I always had short hair and wore male clothes, so there wasn’t much to change apart from my name and how I was addressed.”

Hayden intends to tell his child of his transition in later years.

He said: “I think I would tell it because it has the right to know.

“I’ll bring up the child in a trans environment so hopefully there won’t be any problem.

“Trans is a common thing now for our generation.”

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