Rachelle Friedman became a hot news topic in 2010 when she turned from blushing bride to a paralysed hospital patient when a playful prank at her bachelorette party went horribly wrong.
Now, she is again the centre of the spotlight as she gets ready to welcome her baby girl via surrogate.
Rachelle got married to her supportive fiancé Chris a year after the freak accident in which her spine snapped when she was pushed into the pool as a joke by one of the guests.
Despite her obstacles, she became an inspiration to many as she courageously faced the realities of being paralysed. Her refusal to reveal the identity of the friend who caused the accident to protect her from negative press is also among the reasons she is admired by people suffering a similar plight.
Rachelle, who has become a motivational speaker and book author after the accident, said earlier that she wanted to have a child of her own but her medication would prove to be harmful for a fetus should she decide to have the baby herself.
She said she is thankful that one of their college friends, Lauren Humes agreed to become the baby's surrogate mum.
Now 25 weeks into the pregnancy, Lauren attended the celebration with the couple and 40 of their friends in Raleigh, North Carolina.
It was such a surprise that even Lauren was not privy to gender of the baby. It was only Rachelle's mum who had that information about her future grandchild.
"My mum gave us this giant box filled with balloons and told us to open it," Rachelle said in an interview with People. "We did, and balloons came flying out. They were all pink so we knew. I don"t usually cry. But I teared up, I was so excited."
"It was neat. The pregnancy process has been really interesting," Chris added. "In some ways we feel so detached, so it"s really cool to have the milestones, the ultrasounds and especially the reveal party. It makes it real to us and lets us experience some of the excitement of the pregnancy."
Rachelle, who wore pink to the party and was praying for a baby girl, immediately expressed excitement over the news and quickly made plans to shop for her child. She said she was confident that Chris would be a great dad.
