For most, if not all, of the expectant mothers at a community baby shower in Little Village Tuesday, the story behind why they were there was likely a mystery.
The dozen or so moms-to-be were told only the baby shower came out of a “tragedy” — and that was probably enough to know for the couples about to experience one of life’s more joyous occasions.
“We just share how we started doing these baby showers to really help those moms in need within the community,” said Leticia Ramirez, senior program director at El Valor in Little Village, a nonprofit community center with a range of programs targeting pregnant mothers, children and adults with special needs.
El Valor’s clients are low income and many speak only Spanish.
The baby showers, held every three months, began in 2019, the same year Marlen Ochoa-Lopez was murdered. She was a pregnant teen mother who had a child attending a private day care center that partnered with El Valor, Ramirez said.
In spring 2019, Ochoa-Lopez was lured to a Southwest Side home with an offer of baby clothes for her unborn son. Instead, Ochoa-Lopez was strangled and had her baby cut out of her body.
Ochoa-Lopez’s body was later found in a garbage can behind the house where she was killed.
The baby, Yovanny Lopez, clung to life for about a month before dying from complications of various conditions. The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide. A mother and daughter — Clarisa Figueroa and Desiree Figueroa — were later charged with killing Ochoa-Lopez. Clarisa Figueroa is awaiting trial, while Desiree Figueroa has accepted a plea deal and is expected to testify against her mother.
On Tuesday, the talk had everything to do with swelling bellies and diapers and knowing or not knowing a child’s gender before birth.
Jaqueline Gutierrez, 26, was there with her partner, Pablo Gutierrez, 28. They live in Hammond, Indiana, and are expecting their first child in October.
“He doesn’t know anything about kids. So he wants to get as much information as possible,” Jaqueline Gutierrez said of her partner.
Said Pablo Gutierrez: “I wanted to get more information and be confident when the baby comes.”
Jaqueline Gutierrez said she is lucky because she has a large, supportive family — but she said she’ll take all of the help she can get.
“All of this has made me so emotional,” she said.
