He had to pick up the pieces for his children’s sake.
The love story of Erica and Carlos Morales resembled a fairy tale. The two first laid eyes on each other during a night out at a Scottsdale, Arizona, nightclub in 2006. He didn’t speak any English and she had a hard time understanding Spanish, but he still invited her to dance with him.
As they called the night quits, Carlos scribbled his phone number on a piece of paper, but he later learned that Erica threw it away.
Around a year later, the two met again through mutual friends, but this time, they didn’t part ways. What’s most, he learned English and she learned Spanish, and soon after, they decided to tie the knot.
They both dreamed of becoming parents and tried for a baby, but Erica experienced a miscarriage. They described that experience as devastating and the worst of their lives. But then, Erica underwent fertility treatment and some awesome news followed. The couple was expecting not one, but four babies.
Erica and Carlos couldn’t wait for the moment when they would be able to hold their bundles of joy in their arms. The pregnancy was a healthy one up until the point when the mom-to-be experienced high blood pressure and was rushed to the hospital.
It was January 15 when Erica texted her husband about how the doctors planned to deliver the babies right away. At that point, she was in the seventh month of the pregnancy.
“The doctor said she was having too many contractions so it was time to deliver the babies,” Carlos says. “We took pictures before she went into the delivery room, made some videos, and she was surrounded by family and friends. I said to her, ‘Let’s get these babies out.’”
Everything was ready for the little ones to be welcomed into the world. The couple even discussed their babies’ names. They settled on Carlos Jr. for the boy and Tracey and Paisley for the two girls. They were one name short, for the fourth baby, but as they couldn’t decide, they agreed to think about it later believing they had all the time in the world.
Unfortunately, things took a different turn.
Before Erica was taken to the delivery room, Carlos planted a kiss on her head and told her: “Let’s get these babies out.”
Right after giving birth, Carlos went to see his loving wife. She squeezed his hand and at that moment, equipment alarms went off and a bunch of doctors and nurses entered Erica’s room.
An hour later, they delivered the most heartbreaking news. Erica went into hypovolemic shock, an emergency condition in which severe blood or other fluid loss makes the heart unable to pump enough blood to the body, and there was nothing that could be done. The mother of four died.
Carlos couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His wife was fine, and then she wasn’t. All of a sudden, she was gone. “I went from having the best day of my life to the next morning experiencing the worst day of my life,” devastated Carlos said. “My four babies came into the world and then my wife died.”
Despite the grief and the pain he felt, he knew he needed to be strong for his four little angels. The fourth child was named Erica, after her mother.
Sometime later, Carlos found a note on his late wife’s iPad. Erica wrote the things she wished for her children. She wanted them to go to college, learn both English and Spanish and have good jobs. Today, although she’s no longer around, Carlos promised to be the best dad his children could ever wish for and do all in his power to make his late wife’s wish come true.
We wish this loving dad and his children only the best life can bring.
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