Monica Kass Rogers
Special to the Sentinel

The glittery-pink Stardust banquet room in Chicago buzzes with baby-shower clatter. Girlfriends dish. Aunts snap photos. And first-time parents Ewa and Michael Lichodziejewski say thanks again and again.

The very pregnant woman at the front of the room isn't Ewa, though. It's Karah Janssen, the baby's gestational surrogate. And as Ewa and Michael unwrap stacks of
booties, blankets and baby gear, Janssen opens boxes of soothing bath treatments and certificates for spa services and weekend getaways.

The high point? A diamond ring Ewa tearfully presents to Karah, along with the announcement that the baby's middle name will be Karah.

"This is a big moment for all of us," says Janssen, who also is Michael's sister. "A day when I get to celebrate nearing the end of my role and see them celebrate the beginning of theirs."

Read the whole article on Baby Parties.

Monica Kass Rogers wrote this for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.