Martha Stewart is preparing to be the best grandma ever. Her daughter Alexis is using a surrogate to have a baby and Martha is “on cloud nine,” according to the National Enquirer.

According to family sources, 45-year-old Alexis, who struggled to conceive for years, is using a surrogate to help her become a mother. The baby is due in the spring.

“Martha is so excited to be a grandma,” a close family friend told The Enquirer. “But she is also happy because her only daughter’s dream is finally coming true.”

[National Enquirer, print edition, December 13, 2010]

Alexis first tried to have a baby at age 37, when she was married to John Cuti, but she put those plans on hold when Martha when to prison for securities fraud. Alexis and Cuti divorced in 2004, but Alexis still wanted a child and tried in vitro fertilization several times to no avail.

After jail, Martha went through more hardships. Her mother died in 2007, and she broke up with billionaire Charles Simonyi in 2008. Simonyi went on to marry a woman 32 years younger.

That’s when Alexis first began to consider using a surrogate to have a baby.

“Martha was bereft,” said the family friend. “She told Alexis that the only thing that could possibly pick her spirits up would be for her to have a child — and she didn’t care how she did it!”

…To find her surrogate, Alexis was helped by a family attorney and chose a married woman in her late 30s who lives in rural Pennsylvania, a four-hour drive from Martha’s daughter in New York City. The woman has already been a surrogate twice before, says the family friend.

“Alexis is about to burst with excitement. She speaks to the woman regularly to see how she is progressing, because she wants to be involved in the whole process,” the family friend continued. “She wants to be a hands-on mom from the womb.”

Martha, 69, has been pushing for grandchildren for years, say insiders.

Alexis once told a reporter: “My mom’s just desperate. She has wanted grandchildren forever. She’s always like, ‘For my birthday, I would like you to be pregnant.’ And I’m like, ‘Me, too!’”

[National Enquirer, print edition, December 13, 2010]

No word on who provided the sperm that fertilized Alexis’s egg. According to Wikipedia, surrogacy is illegal in New York but legal in Pennsylvania.

This might be a little creepy on Martha’s part if Alexis wasn’t just as anxious for the baby too.

Alexis currently co-hosts the show Whatever with Alexis and Jennifer on the Hallmark network. Martha also recently moved The Martha Stewart Show to Hallmark.

Expect to see hand-made rattles and baby bonnets on future episodes of Martha. She already has some really cute puppets made from washcloths on her Web site.

Header image is from 2006, credit: PRPhotos

Martha Stewart’s daughter Alexis has been spending over $28,000 a month of fertility treatments in an attempt to get pregnant. Alexis is 42, and says she was so busy with her life and her career that she never stopped to think about how much time is passing. Celebrities get pregnant all the time at what seems like any old age, and we don’t really hear as much about the people that can’t have babies. Alexis says she’ll do whatever it takes to have a child, and has gone as far as giving herself her shots on the street if necessary.

“Even though her eggs are ‘dry and crusty,’ Alexis Stewart is determined to get pregnant – so determined, she spends $28,000 a month on fertility treatments. Stewart, 42, started the difficult process last year, and opened up to People in July about how lucky she is to be able to afford the high-tech procedures and special treatments. On Tuesday, she talks to Oprah Winfrey about the emotionally and financially draining process.

“Having a baby wasn’t always a priority for Stewart, and now that she’s ready to be a mom, she tells Winfrey it’s almost too late. ‘[We] get distracted because now we have jobs, and now we have other things to do. Medicine seems miraculous – you can do anything you want,’ she says. ‘Movie stars have babies late. It seems all possible, but you don’t hear the stories of the people who can’t have a baby.’”

[From People]

As a feminist, I kind of have a problem with the whole notion that women better get to the baby having or we’ll dry up. But biology doesn’t really agree with my feminist principles, and it is what it is. Alexis was married to one of the lawyers that unsuccessfully defended her mother from 1997 – 2004, and has been using a sperm donor to get pregnant.

“Over the summer, Stewart told People she’ll do whatever it takes to make Martha Stewart, her mom, a grandmother. ‘Twice, I’ve given myself shots on the street. I’m much more interested in taking my medication than in what anyone might think about me,’ she said. Stewart has since had three failed egg implantations. ‘Last month, I had no eggs that were viable, so I’m sort of back to square one at the moment,’ she tells Winfrey, adding that she tries not to get too emotional about it.

“‘When I have to think about my other options, then I will do that,’ she says. ‘But at the moment, I can only think about this option.’ Stewart also says financial and emotional backing from her mom helps. ‘She’s very supportive. She tells me it will happen all the time,’ she says. ‘Because she wants grandchildren?’ Winfrey asks. Stewart’s response: ‘Desperately.’”

[From People]

I don’t know, but I would guess Martha’s footing a good portion of the bill herself. But maybe that’s because Oprah kept billing the show “This woman is spending $28,000 a month to make Martha Stewart a grandmother,” which made it sound like it was all about Martha. I’m not really a huge Martha fan – she seems pretty cold to me – but I’m guessing any baby that’s lucky enough to be born into that family will be pretty well taken care of for the rest of their lives. And have access to Martha’s scrapbooking wing in her house. I’d try to be her grandkid just for that.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Martha Stewart and Alexis are shown on 4/28/06 at the Daytime Emmy Awards. Thanks to PRPhotos.