Couple thank student midwife who gave birth to their daughter

A couple have spoken about the joy a midwife has brought to their lives after acting as a surrogate for them.

Ami and Stuart Geddes, from Erskine in Renfrewshire, lost their son when he was born 15 weeks early, and were told Ami may not survive another pregnancy.

After hearing their story, midwife Jennifer Halliday offered to carry their next child.

The couple said the arrival of their daughter Connie Geddes had completed their family.

Baby Connie was born at the Royal Alexandra Maternity Hospital in Paisley on Friday 18 August, weighing 8lb 6oz.

Speaking on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme, Ami Geddes said: "Our embryos weren't the problem, it was my body reacting to carrying children."

Ms Geddes was diagnosed with type one diabetes when she was a child, a condition that puts women at much higher risk of developing pre-eclampsia during pregnancy.

The couple already have four-year-old Camdyn, who was also born early, at 29 weeks, which the couple now believe was also due to pre-eclampsia.

"We could make really lovely, beautiful, amazing babies but we just couldn't carry them to term," Ami continued.

"We're shocked to the core that we've got these amazing little people in our lives, and Jen has completed our family."

Dad Stuart described how he had felt helpless as he watched his wife and baby son battle for their lives at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in January 2021.

"I watched my wife almost lose her life, and because her blood pressure got so extreme she almost went into a coma," he said.

"My little boy had to be delivered to basically save Ami's life. He was too premature, unfortunately his lungs weren't developed enough.

"His fight lasted 12 days and sadly they had to turn off the life support machine."

The couple named their baby boy Clark, after Superman's alias Clark Kent.

It was after hearing about the couple's plight through a friend that student midwife Jennifer, from Barrhead, stepped in and offered to be the couple's surrogate.

She said it was an easy decision to make after hearing about the love the couple had for their family.

She said: "I feel like knowing the heartbreak of what they were going through, and how lucky I have been to carry my babies with no complications, it really just did make me want to help them and give them that joy.

"It felt like any normally pregnancy of mine, but I had that detachment in my head that this is their baby, it's their happiness I'm just keeping this baby safe for them."

Jennifer gave birth to Connie just as she found out she had passed her first year midwife exams. She will now go into her second year of studying.

The couple said that Jennifer had made all their dreams come true, and they have made a friend for life.