A PREGNANCY test is always a nerve wracking moment. 

But for Kristi Schmidt seeing two lines would change everything. She was about to discover if she was pregnant at 52 – with her own grandchild. 

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“I looked over at my daughter Heidi, then 28, who was gripping my hand as the seconds ticked by,” Kristi says.

“Was I about to make her a mum at last?”

The Californian mum and daughter had always been close.

“Heidi was always such an upbeat, positive girl,” Kristi says. 

“And from the time she was a teenager, talked about being a mum one day.”

With two easy pregnancies at 22 and 24, Kristi had no reason to suspect that Heidi would struggle to conceive when the time came. 

“I conceived so quickly and loved being pregnant,” Kristi says.

“I didn’t suffer from any of the usual side effects and had easy deliveries. 

“It really felt like my body was made to be pregnant.”

When Heidi Lampros married fiancé John in 2015, they wanted to grow their family right away.

“We were both so excited,” Heidi remembers. 

“I love children and couldn’t wait to have one of our own.

“For years we tried, and as time passed my excitement turned to sadness and worry.

“Mum tried to reassure me, but all around me, friends were having babies. When would it be our turn?”

Then finally in 2020 it happened and the couple 

Heidi says: “I felt so excited walking into our first pregnancy scan. I had no idea what we were about to hear.”

The scan revealed that Heidi had uterine didelphys, meaning that she’d been born with two wombs. 

“Then I heard that I was pregnant with twins, and one baby was growing in each uterus,” she says. 

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“It’s incredibly rare and only happens to one-in-three-million people.”

Tragically, their joy didn’t last. 

At ten weeks a scan found that one of the babies didn’t have a heartbeat. Heidi and John were heartbroken.

“Then at 24 weeks, we learned that we were also losing our son,” she recalls.

“I was devastated, and because I was so far along, I needed to deliver him, a little boy we called Malakai.”

There was more awful news to come. 

“My doctor said that I would be able to get pregnant again, but that I shouldn’t try. It would simply be too dangerous,” Heidi says.

“I was grief stricken and lost. All my dreams of building a family seemed to be shattered.’

Kristi could only watch her daughter’s anguish. 

“I felt so helpless,” she says. 

“As her mum, it was my job to help take away her pain, but it felt like there was nothing I could do.

“Then two months later Heidi called, her voice happier than it had been in so long. She’d discussed it with her doctor, she said, and IVF and surrogacy would be the next best step.”

As soon as she heard those words, Kristi made a decision.

“I knew immediately that I was going to be her surrogate,” she says. 

“Heidi needed someone to take care of the embryo that she and John would create. Who better to do it than the baby’s own grandma?

“I didn’t say anything to Heidi at first. I wanted to sit with it for a few days and see if I might change my mind. In fact it only made me more determined that it was what I wanted to do.”

“I was speechless when mum told me about her plan,” says Heidi. “She was 52 and I knew from my own experience that pregnancy is unpredictable.

“I did feel a surge of hope at the idea. I’d read about a mother carrying a baby for her daughter.

“But I loved mum so much and would never put her in danger.”

Kristi pointed out how fit and healthy she was.

“As a retired teacher I had the time to really take care of myself,” Kristi says.

“And surely it was better for me to carry their baby than a stranger?”

“She was so sure,” adds Heidi. “And I knew she had the energy of someone twenty years younger.”

After speaking to John, who agreed that it was a good plan, the two of them went to see a fertility doctor.

I did have some people comment that by being pregnant, I was taking that experience away from Heidi

Kristi Schmidt

“I still hadn’t told my husband Ray,” Kristi says. “There didn’t seem much point until we knew it was possible.

“I was thrilled to hear that the doctor was open to the idea, so long as I passed all the medical checks.”

Kristi’s reproductive system, heart, lungs, hormones and blood pressure were all checked. She got the green light to start.

The grandmother says: “Ray didn’t hesitate when he heard about my offer to Heidi, just smiled and said, ‘Let’s go!’” 

The first step was to create the embryos. 

For ten days Kristi drove the 30 minutes to Heidi’s house to give her the hormone injections she needed to start her IVF cycle. 

“Six months later, when our five embryos were safely in the clinic freezer, it was my turn to hold the needle,” laughs Heidi. 

“Twice a day for ten days I needed a progesterone injection in my bottom, to prepare my uterus,” says Kristi

With her body ready, it was time for the embryo transfer. 

“I didn’t look at the screen,” Kristi remembers. “My eyes were firmly on Heidi’s hopeful, excited face. 

“I silently promised her that she’d have this baby in her arms in nine months’ time.

“As we left, the doctor gave her an envelope. Heidi opened it, showed me the card that said, 

‘Hi Mummy, I’m a little girl’ and we both dissolved into tears.’” 

Nine days later they stood together and saw the pregnancy test turn positive. 

Kristi says: “Heidi grabbed her phone to call John, and I called Ray. ‘I’m having a baby at 52!’ I said, laughing through the joyful tears.”

After 28 years, Kristi was amazed at how normal her pregnancy felt.

“Everything just flooded back,” she admits.

“If I was tired or had morning sickness I could sleep. In fact, it was easier than it had been with Heidi and her brother.”

There were some challenges as her bump grew, and it became clear that she was pregnant at 52.

“The counsellor at the fertility clinic had warned us that not everyone would be totally supportive of what we were doing,” says Kristi.

“I did have some people comment that by being pregnant, I was taking that experience away from Heidi.

“Others thought that by being their surrogate, I was somehow having a baby with John.

“I’d just smile and reply, ‘I had nothing to do with conceiving this baby. I’m just a safe place for my grandchild to grow.’

“As for Ray, he loved cheerfully announcing to strangers, ‘This is my wife, she’s pregnant and it’s not mine.’ Then, when he saw the confusion on their faces, he’d continue: ‘She’s carrying our grandbaby.’”

Heidi admits that she did struggle with anxiety. 

“Mum would update me constantly and I was there for every scan and appointment,” she says.

“But after the trauma of losing my twins, I knew things don’t always go to plan. 

“I desperately wanted mum and the baby to be safe and I couldn’t quite let myself believe that this was real.

“Finally at our baby shower I believed, for the first time, that I was going to have a child of my own. All because of my incredible mum.”

For Kristi, there was never a question that this baby she was carrying was hers.

“I never felt like a mum-in-waiting,” she says. 

The three of us spend so much time together, it’s so joyful to be her ‘Gigi’

Kristi Schmidt

“I loved the baby growing inside me, but I was just a loving babysitter, a grandma-in-waiting.”

In a planned caesarean in March 2022, with Heidi by her side, Ekko Joy was born.

“My incredible 6lb 4oz granddaughter was handed directly to Heidi, just as we’d planned, and I was overwhelmed with happiness,” Kristi says.

“Cuddling her close I felt like I was coming to life,” says Heidi. 

“After all the heartbreak, grief and anxiety, she was here at last. I’d never felt love like it.

“And she was only there, safe in my arms, because of what mum had done for me. I knew that I’d never be able to thank her enough for bringing me my daughter.”

Ekko was kept in the NICU because of a heart murmur and an issue with her bowel. But Kristi, who expressed milk for Ekko, was able to go home after three days. 

“When I held Ekko for the first time the following week, I felt like I’d known her forever,” Kristi says. 

“We were all in tears. I was the happiest grandma in the world.”

Ekko is now a happy, boisterous three-year-old, and her bond with Kristi is stronger than ever. 

“The three of us spend so much time together,” says Kristi. “It’s so joyful to be her ‘Gigi’.

“I don’t need any thanks for what I did. It was an honour to help heal Heidi’s heart and make her a mum at last.”

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