How many of us were born prematurely?

[Frédérique]

[SIZE="2"]Just curious. I’m wondering if this may have a connection, in certain circumstances, to MtF crossdressing, or crossdressing in general, perhaps thrusting us into the world before we’re truly ready and, as a result, leading to emotional issues akin to dislocation...

I met a good friend on this site by way of our mutual premature-ness, something that was only discussed informally at the time. My friend has felt a kind of apart-ness since birth, always out of step with the world that surrounds us, always conscious that she may never catch up. Whether or not “normalcy” is desired or dismissed is open to conjecture, but the idea opened my eyes to the possibility that premature birth may have contributed to my own need to crossdress, at least indirectly. Is something under-developed inside of us, and we seek to redress the balance?

I was born a month premature, and it’s a good thing I was, because the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck, trying to strangle me before I made my scheduled appearance. I was a “blue baby,” and I spent a month in an incubator getting fully cooked – to this day my sister relates the tale, and she proudly displays a photo of her holding her little brother, taken the day I finally came home from the hospital. I suppose I could’ve come out of my ordeal with brain damage, but I was very lucky – again, my sister insists that my “odd” personality is the result of premature birth, since I’m definitely NOT like the other boys. I also used to fall, hit my head, and knock myself out a lot as a youth – I feel this may have contributed greatly to the development of my artistic nature (pardon my self-deprecating joke)...

Does being a premie mean anything? I’m rather emotional for a boy, which led to isolation at an early age, although there were other factors. The fact that I exist at all is because of a mistake, or a miracle, depending on how one looks at it. My parents were getting too old to have children, but, BINGO, I came along, and ten years after my last sister was born. I often wonder what would have happened if I had been born a girl, but my father REALLY wanted a boy, a boyish boy of the genus BOY. Being born prematurely added a dramatic twist to the proceedings, and I was seen as something of a miracle baby. I was also the only boy born to a family of five brothers, but they didn’t really get what they hoped (or bargained) for...

Being a premie, I was either in the world too soon, scrambling up a slippery slope, or I was protected too much to do anything normal or meaningful with my life. Left to my own devices, I made my way through the forbidding forest of adults I had parachuted into against my will. I do everything the hard way, which means I came to crossdressing later than most, once again struggling to catch up and be seen as an equal. Does it have something to do with being born prematurely, or just another example of missing the boat, again, or arriving too early, before the boat leaves the dock? I’m getting sea-sick just thinking about the missed opportunities! I was born in June, but it should’ve been July, so I do not subscribe to this Gemini theory of “two sides” to someone’s personality (or gender expression). Your results may vary, but I am very much betwixt and between all the time...

The situation of being born prematurely, and the profound effect it may have had on my life, never really crossed my mind until I came here and met other crossdressers like me. It may have something to do with it, but I’m certainly no expert. I mean, someone had to tell me that I was born prematurely, since I was too young to remember. All I know is this un-knowable condition without a name, let’s call it displacement, leading to spinning in circles, blindfolded, trying to grasp something tangible in an effort to feel complete...

Were you born prematurely, and, if you were, do you ever think about it this way?

PS – Take my advice. Don’t “come out” too soon, OK? [/SIZE]

[Sylvi]

Hello there. I was born 2 months premature, but i had never thought about my love for cross dressing that way. I think my hobby has more to do with how i was raised, rather than how i was born. I was raised by a mostly female family. I spent most of my childhood around my aunts, and my mom. That was probably why i was more comfortable with females, and female activities. Though I still enjoyed many male activities.

I suppose though, that my premature birth caused my family to shelter me in a way, and that was what led my aunts to be such a big part of my life. So maybe my birth did have an indirect effect on my life. I would have never of thought of this if i hadn't read this post. It's quite enlightening

[Barbara Dugan]

I wasn't born premature but I was a very fragile baby and used to be hospitalized many times also my mother always says that from all my siblings (6 of them) I was the more unique and different...she never admit it but I know what she means...the gender ambivalence

[JustWendy]

To build on what Sylvi started, perhaps there is a connection to being premature and a tendency for the parents to be over protective - perhaps limiting the way they allow their child to explore the world - not being as lax as they might normally be with a male child, not as tolerant of daredevil behavior. I wasn't premature, so this is just a thought, not experience.

[Diane Smith]

I was born about three weeks early, I'm told. I didn't have any short-term physical or mental complications as a result, but my mom did -- she hemorrhaged during the delivery and the pretty serious loss of blood kept her (and me) in the hospital for about an extra week afterward. Both my parents are gone now, so I have no way to ask any more questions about it, but I have absolutely no idea if this made any difference in how I was treated early on or whether it could be related to my gender issues or any other aspects of my personality. It's an interesting conjecture, though.

- Diane

[Cynthia Anne]

Gee now I know I was born 40 years early! Oh well too late now!

[Michelle James]

I too was a premie. Several weeks early and less than 5# at birth. That coupled with the fact that my mother wanted a girl and dressed me like one for the first six months. What would you expect the outcome to be?

[ChanDelle]

Not that I'm aware of. Never been told that I was born early. It will be interesting to see how the responses for this thread develop. Although I have always felt out of step with most folks and this planet. Wonder why?

ChanDelle

[Debb]

I was two weeks premature.

[Debglam]

Preemie - incubator baby too. Still think the answer will ultimately be hormones - genetics, but an interesting premise.

[Amy Lynn3]

I was in the oven for a full nine months. I know many threads have been started as to the cause of crossdressing, but for the life of me I don't know why I like to crossdress, but I do.

[Schatten Lupus]

One of my friend's dad was a month premature, and today he is a seven foot tall hippy.
Myself, I wasn't early, but I was a month late. But like others mentioned, being trans and early or late would probably be more of the way parents might have become over protective. We would probably have seen a much stronger trend in premature babies being trans if a correlation existed.

[Genivieve]

Whoah. Interesting. I was 1-2 months premature.

[Karren H]

I was born immature... Apparently you don't grow out of that?

Your only young once but you can be immature for ever! .

[busker]

NO, I came in on time and under budget. But, I am a Gemini!!!!!!!!! so far as I am concerned though, I would have been better off had I been born in 1600 or 1750 and maybe 1900. I definitely don't fit in very well in my own generation.

[Maxi]

I was 2 months premature.

[Rachel Morley]

My Mom had super high blood pressure toward the end and so the doctors thought it best to induce. I was a month early.

[TGMarla]

I was born nearly 2 months premature. But I am also a twin, which can contribute to that. Furthermore, my mother smoked, like so many others in that day, and that could also be a contributing factor. As far as I know, my brother does not crossdress. Me? Well, I've been known to indulge in it from time to time.

[rhonda]

Apparently there must something wrong with crossdressing , why do I do it ? seems to be not to be normal ,need a excuse for doing it instead of enjoying it . I don't need an excuse to do it

[Gaby2]

I don't know, Frédérique... I must ask my mother.
Everything you wrote in your OP sounds strangely familiar!

I'm the "smallest" and probably the most effeminate of four brothers.
The youngest boy was always Mammy's most precious child - she lost a baby before him.
The oldest, her fair-haired boy.
Up to now, I never wondered if any of them crossdress... or if they're premies...
My mother was extremely fond of us, almost Oedipus-like.

For the record, my eldest sister tells the story that she, my other sister and elder brother were bumbled into a bedroom shortly after a man with a black bag turned up at the door.
After he had gone... well, there I was.
They were convinced that I had come in the black bag.

Gaby

ps Rhonda,
I now know that cding is in many ways very special and that I'm not at all unique in this big good world.
Before I recently realised this, I often felt that there was something wrong with me and with cding.

[Vickie_CDTV]

I have seen a few reports that site a link between being premature and transvestism (didn't mention transsexualism; they also say being an only child also puts one at increased risk for developing transvestism.)

I was 6 weeks premature, was under 2.5 pounds (could fit into the palm of my uncle's hand) and was in an incubator too. I was supposed to have been born on my mother's birthday, oh the irony! Both of my siblings were stillborn. From what my mother tells me, I should have died, had they not had the technology they had in the mid 70s.

My mother also smoked, and I am sure that was a contributing factor (among other) in being premature and the death of both of my potential siblings.

As for a sheltered life, until I was 4 my mother and I were inseparable, until I started preschool (under great protest from me.) I spent those early years alone with her, isolated by living in the middle of nowhere with no car of her own to go anywhere, no other kids etc. I had an absentee workaholic father I rarely saw (and when was around was abusive to me and my mother.) He was always calling me a sissy, well later on he found out he was right...

[Natalie D]

I wasn't born premature but I did almost arrive before the midwife. I was born at home and the midwife got held up on her way to the house. She was on a bike apparently.

[suzy1]

I have to say, from a purely medical point of view there seems to be no connection between premature birth and crossdressing.
As for living a sheltered life when young, who knows?

I was not born premature and certainly not sheltered when young. And yet here I am, Suzy at her best!
An interesting point Freddy my friend.

SUZY

[WifeofWrenchette]

My SO, who is a crossdresser, was born premature. Woah, I didn't know there was a correlation.

[Steph.TS]

my mom was induced 2 weeks early because her doctor wanted to go on vacation lol