A woman died in Phoenix on Friday morning just hours after she gave birth to a set of quadruplets. She was never able to hold her babies in her arms.
The 36-year-old mom Erica Morales took her last breath in the early hours of Jan. 16 after giving birth to four pre-term infants in a C-section surgery at the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center.
"They were transporting her from the surgery to whatever room, and she was still unconscious at that point," said her cousin and best friend Nicole Todman. "So, no, she never got to see them."
Todman said Morales gave birth to three girls and a boy, who will remain confined at the hospital for the next two months as doctors help them become stronger and gain up to five pounds. The infants currently weigh about two to three pounds.
Morales was seven months into her pregnancy when she was hospitalized for high blood pressure. Todman said complications arose, which led doctors to send her into surgery.
Toni Eberhardt, spokesperson for the hospital, declined to comment on the cause of Morales' death, citing patient privacy regulations. She did, however, say the hospital was mourning with the family.
"Our heartfelt thoughts and condolences are with the family during this very difficult time," Eberhardt said.
Morales was a real estate agent before working for the University of Phoenix. Todman said she and her husband, Carlos, who works in manufacturing, had been trying hard to conceive for the last two years, turning to everything from acupuncture to fertility treatments. Before Morales became pregnant with the help of in-vitro fertilization in June, she had suffered one miscarriage.
On her Facebook page, the Memphis, Tenn. native shared a happy pregnancy, including the joy of discovering four heartbeats during an ultrasound test last fall and a festive baby shower last month.
"Doctor said I did phenomenal," Morales said in one of her last posts. "A poster child for quads," she said of herself in another.
On Tuesday, after she was hospitalized for high blood pressure and being administered by doctors to help her babies' lungs develop, she said: "Sometimes you just have to sit back and thank God for blessing up to this point and put it fully in his hands."
Todman has started a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds for the infants. As of Sunday morning, more than 1,000 people have donated to the campaign, raising a total of more than $40,000. The campaign aims to raise $75,000.
"The expense of raising four children alone is quite daunting for any middle-class family; now with the loss of Erica's income, her husband will need all the help he can get," wrote Todman. "This is an extremely emotional time. Erica's passing is traumatic and my goal is to help ease the financial worry as much as possible so every dollar helps if it's $1 or $1,000, it will all be used to provide for the beautiful babies Erica fought so hard to have and in the end gave her life for."
Donors are invited to contribute to the campaign.
