Britain’s first transgender parents have revealed their second baby is due in June after their ‘angel’ surrogate agreed to carry another child for them.
Hannah and Jake Graf, from south London, revealed their surrogate Laura, who gave birth to the couple’s baby daughter Millie in April 2020, will deliver their second child later this year.
After sharing their plans to have a second baby in November 2020, they revealed that Laura had sadly suffered an ectopic pregnancy but fell pregnant again in September last year.
Appearing on Lorraine today, Hannah, 34, hailed Laura ‘beautiful, amazing and wonderful’ for aiding herself and Jake, 44, in becoming parents.
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Britain’s first transgender parents Hannah and Jake Graf, from south London, have revealed their second baby is due in June after their ‘angel’ surrogate agreed to carry another child for them
Surrogate Laura, from Belfast, (pictured) who gave birth to the couple’s baby daughter Millie in April 2020, will deliver their second child later this year
‘Laura is our angel,’ said Jake. ‘She said directly after our first one she would help us again and she has. We did say at the beginning of last year we would try again, and it ended up being an ectopic pregnancy, which was sad for all of us.
‘But we pulled back together and went again in September and miraculously we are due to have another little girl on the first of June.’
Jake said he would be ‘holding his breath’ until the baby’s due date, admitting they have found it difficult that Laura, who is based in Belfast, lives so far away from their London home.
‘I think as soon as she’s out into the world, at least we can be near her,’ said Jake. ‘It’s hard knowing our little bump is growing in Northern Ireland and we can’t rub her and touch her and sing to her.’
The couple (pictured with their daughter Millie) announced they were expecting a baby via surrogate in December 2019
The couple met their daughter Millie in April after they were unable to travel over to Northern Ireland to visit Laura due to the pandemic
Television director and actor Jake transitioned in 2008 and made the decision for a fertility clinic to freeze his eggs because he’s wanted to be a father since his early 20s.
The couple announced they were expecting a baby via surrogate in December 2019 after Jake stopped testosterone for about six months in order to harvest and freeze his eggs.
The couple met their daughter Millie in April and Hannah admitted that, because Laura had remained in another country during lockdown, she was initially worried about forming a bond with the baby.
‘At the time I felt it was awful,’ she said. ‘I worried I couldn’t connect, that first child you’re worried you won’t be able to form that bond – but we saw Millie in the first hours of her life and the bond was there immediately.’
Speaking of how Millie feels about becoming a big sister, Jake said: ‘She knows the word [sister]. We’re forcing lots of books on her.
‘She knows what the word means. She’s not even two yet, she’ll get there. She won’t know what hit her! But it’ll be great.’
Jake and Hannah Graf (pictured) cuddled their miracle baby who was born on April 14 and said earlier this year they ‘couldn’t be happier nor more grateful’
Jake opened up about the support the couple has received from friends and family after coming out as trans, and the positive response they have received from the public.
‘We have been incredibly fortunate with the support we have received as a trans couple from friends, family, from the public who have been very kind’, he said.
‘To find this wonderful woman[Laura] to help us have a family and get pregnant first time was nothing short of miraculous.’
Hannah was the highest-ranking transgender officer in the British Army before she left to begin a career in finance.
The Sandhurst-trained officer served in Afghanistan as Captain Winterbourne and came out as a transgender woman in 2013, adding that she thought coming out meant never being able to start a family.
‘When I came out I thought I was making the choice not to ever have a family, to be in love or have a partner’, she said.
‘So to be here and to be able to tell my story openly and honestly, just two people having normal happy lives, hopefully that says to the other trans people out there that just because you’re trans, it doesn’t mean you can’t have the same love in life as anybody.’