TOUCHING: Dad Shares On Losing Wife After Childbirth & Raising Their Quadruplets Alone

Carlos Morales and his wife, Erica, got married in 2007 but struggled for years to start a family. The birth of their quadruplets in January after Erica underwent fertility treatments in June, 2014, brought what Carlos tagged ‘the best day of my life.’

However, in a tragic twist, Erica died of blood loss on Jan. 16 after giving birth to the babies two months prematurely.

Morales, 29 said, “I went from having the best day of my life to the next morning experiencing the worst day of my life. My four babies came into the world and then my wife died.”

All four babies, though tiny were healthy.

Morales had to take baby-care classes at a local hospital to be able to care for them. He learnt everything from how to give them a bath, CPR, feeding, and how to manage their sleep schedule.

Reliving his loss, he continued: “Erica was taking such good care of herself. When she went for her first sonogram, she found out she wasn’t just having one baby, but four. Her doctor told her she had to just relax. So that’s exactly what she did.”

Carlos cooked, cleaned and made sure Erica stayed off her feet. Erica’s mother even moved into their house to help them.

Doctors closely monitored Erica, who was healthy throughout her pregnancy.

However, on Jan. 12, Erica was checked into the hospital because she was experiencing high blood pressure. She texted Carlos on Jan. 15 while he was at work saying the doctors wanted to deliver the babies.

Morales said: “The doctor said she was having too many contractions so it was time to deliver the babies. 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.’”

The couple also discussed names. They settled on Carlos Jr. for the boy and Tracey and Paisley for the two girls. Erica couldn’t decide on the other girl’s name. They thought they had plenty of time to figure it out.

Some 24 people – doctors, nurses, family and friends – were in the delivery room when the babies were born. Each weighed from two to three lbs. For Carlos, it was the moment of a lifetime.

“I forgot about how expensive it was going to be to raise four kids or how hard it might be,” he says. “Seeing Erica and the babies healthy is all I could think about. I was just so excited for our future.”

Erica, who was coming out of an anesthesia-induced sleep, squeezed her husband’s hand. She couldn’t yet speak. Carlos sat by her bedside, with their newborn babies in the nursery one floor away.

Suddenly, around 1 a.m., Carlos heard equipment alarms going off and saw nurses rushing into the room. The medical team asked him to leave while they worked on Erica.

An hour later, they told him she was gone. He heard their words but couldn’t understand.

“How could this have happened?” he asked, something that still haunts him today. “She was fine, and then she wasn’t. She was alive and then she was just gone.”

He still asks himself every day if there is something he could have done to keep his wife alive.

When he was sitting by his babies in the middle of the night after she passed away, the nurse asked him what the babies’ names were.

Carlos gave the nurse the three names they had agreed upon. The other girl’s name he chose himself: Erica.

Carlos continues to grieve for Erica every waking minute. She lives in his dreams. He is however thankful for their babies, whom he has received lots of help to raise.

A friend, Nicole Todman, created a GoFundMe page in March which has received massive donations from almost 13,000 people, including Steve Harvey, who presented him gifts on his show, including $10,000 per child from Sallie Mae to start a college savings account.

“When Steve Harvey told me that, I couldn’t believe it,” Morales says. “Everything I do is for my children and their future. Education is so important. I worry about money and this just made me feel so relieved.”

Morales has since gone back to work, and although he says it’s been good for him, it’s also the hardest part of his day.

“That’s when Erica used to text me and ask how my day was going,” he says. “It’s on my way home that I realize she won’t be there when I walk in the door.”

But any sadness soon turns into joy when he sees Carlos Jr., Tracy, Paisley and Erica, named after his wife.

“They have such potential and it’s my job to give them a great life,” says Morales. “But I couldn’t do it without my family and friends.”

Source: blackdoctor