Trigger warning: if you are easily confused by gender pronouns, this story from France may cause heart palpitations.

February 19 saw the birth of Avah, the daughter of Mattéo and Victoire, a young French couple, in the Jacques-Cœur hospital in the town of Bourges, about 250 km south of Paris. A beautiful but unremarkable event, you might think.

However, Mattéo is a transman and Victoire is a transwoman, that is, Mattéo is biologically female and Victoire is biologically male. This is the first natural pregnancy of a trans couple in France, and it is certainly still uncommon elsewhere.

At first, Mattéo and Victoire considered IVF, but doctors refused to help a man become pregnant. So they opted for the traditional method. Each of them had been taking cross-sex hormones to maintain their chosen identities. To have a successful pregnancy, they both had to stop temporarily. Victoire also had to postpone gender-affirmation surgery.

The hospital made every accommodation to ensure that the birth and post-partum care went smoothly.

It was only afterwards that the couple began to hit potholes in the road. For instance, Mattéo was listed as Avah’s mother on the birth certificate, when he/she wanted to be the father. A lot of gender-related paperwork remains unresolved.