On May 23, 2010, bride-to-be Rachelle Friedman was pushed into a pool. Breaking her neck, she was instantly paralyzed from the neck down. As paramedics rushed around her, friends wept, and her fiancé frantically phoned from three hours away, Rachelle had one question: Could she still have kids? 'It was the first thing I thought of,' Rachelle told DailyMail.com. 'I had no idea what was going to happen to me, or what was going on. But ever since I fell in love with Chris I wanted to have babies with him. When I fell in the pool and they were saying things like "paralyzed", I didn't know if I'd be able to carry a child.' Fast-forward half a decade, that question has been answered. Rachelle and Chris Chapman will welcome their baby girl into the world on April 18, thanks to an old friend who asked them to let her be their surrogate. Scroll down for video . Moving: Rachelle Friedman Chapman and her husband Chris (together in the background) are days from becoming parents as their surrogate and college friend Laurel Humes (foreground) reaches her due date . Excited: Rachelle can physically carry children but her blood pressure is too low. So Laurel, whose husband and son are pictured (left), offered to carry the child for them . The baby will be born near Laurel's home in Asheville, North Carolina, four hours from the Chapmans . Rachelle hadn't seen Laurel for nine years but Laurel, touched by her story, reached out on Facebook . Chris and Rachelle confessed they are nervous but excited to welcome the girl, whose name they won't reveal . 'We are both so excited,' Rachelle said. 'Everything has gone so fast. The baby could come any minute now so we've got a bag ready, and the nursery is almost all done. It's amazing.' Though quadriplegic, Rachelle, 29, is able to conceive and carry a child. Her condition means all four of her limbs are impaired, not strictly paralyzed. However, the accident left her with uniquely low blood pressure. Unable to stop taking the medication, which could be damaging to a fetus, she and Chris, 32, started exploring other options. She wrote a blog post on her website about contemplating surrogacy - and a friend from college, Laurel Humes, got in touch. 'I couldn't believe it. I met Laurel at college through Chris but she was a bit older than me and graduated that year. So I hadn't spoken to her in about nine years. 'After I wrote that post, she sent me a Facebook message saying she had been following our story and would love to be our surrogate. Then it all just went so fast. And Laurel has just been so so great.' Rachelle and Chris flew from their home in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Surrogacy Together in California to be assessed and start the process. Half a decade's difference: Rachelle and Chris pictured (left) before she fell into a pool on during her bachelorette party. Now, Rachelle and Laurel (right) have reached a situation neither anticipated . They have built a crib which Rachelle can wheel under, and turned Chris's man cave into a nursery . This is the ultrasound picture of the baby. Chris, Rachelle and Laurel all went to the ultrasound together . Despite the narrow odds, they conceived after the first try. Since then, Laurel has been carrying the child at her home on a farm in Asheville, North Carolina - a four-hour drive from the Chapmans. They admit it's not ideal. 'Unfortunately we haven't had that much time with Laurel and the baby,' Rachelle explains. 'Obviously, as a woman, you want to carry your child. You start to develop those motherly instincts, and the father develops fatherly feelings. 'For both of us it will be a different experience. We haven't had that time with the baby, then one day we're going to come home with a baby. 'It becomes more real when we are around her, when we go to visit. We were at the ultrasounds and she came to the baby shower.' Chris said he never contemplated that their wedding wouldn't go ahead after Rachelle fell . The pair have been dedicated to publicizing their situation to increase awareness about quadriplegia . But everything is in order. They have built a wheelchair-friendly crib that lets Rachelle wheel herself under it. Aside from some pictures on the wall, the nursery - formerly Chris's 'man cave' - is looking baby-ready. The name, though still secret, is set ('I let Chris pick!'). They even traveled over to Laurel's farm on Easter Sunday to take a glowing set of maternity pictures. As Chris remarks, however, 'no matter how much you prepare, you have no idea how to handle it. 'After Rachelle's accident, it took time for us to learn how to deal with it, and we dealt with it differently. 'With this, we are on a level playing field: neither of us know what's coming. And that's the fun of it.' Laurel's due date is April 18, the day after Chris, a teacher, finishes school. However, her own son was born two weeks early, so they're prepared for a rush to make the four-hour drive to the hospital, where they will have their own room. 'When I was getting married I obviously had no idea it was going to happen this way,' Rachelle said. 'But I think we're ready. And we're so excited.'
Rachel Chapman, nee Friedman, was left paralyzed after being playfully pushed into a pool on her bachelorette party on May 23, 2010 . She tells DailyMail.com her first question was 'can I still have children?' Five years later, Rachelle and husband Chris are days from being parents . Their college friend Laurel Humes offered to be their surrogate . The baby, a girl, is due on April 18 . Click here for more information about Rachelle on her website .