Hours after his wife gives birth to quadruplets, he becomes a widower.
Carlos Morales understands that life is a mix of miracles and tragedies. The weight of his grief was offset by four little reasons to live on after a devastating loss. Carlos Morales and Erica Morales first met in 2006. Theirs would be an epic love story of triumph over adversity. She was fluent in English. He was fluent in Spanish. Despite the fact that they did not speak the same language, the two fell head over heels in love. They both worked hard to learn their partner’s native language.
The couple married in Las Vegas in 2007. Carlos and Erica were desperate to start a family. But they weren’t having much luck. Throughout their 10-year marriage, they endured the heartbreak of numerous miscarriages. Finally, the couple decided to try IVF. The treatment was effective, and Erica soon discovered she was expecting quadruplets!
Erica went into labor on January 15, 2015, according to PEOPLE. A few minutes before they welcomed their newborns, Carlos kissed his wife and told her he loved her. Carlos Jr., a boy, and three girls named Paisley, Erica, and Tracey were born healthy. The couple was overjoyed to finally have the family they’d always wanted to start together. Despite the trauma of labor, Erica had a precious few hours.
“We were ecstatic to start our family,” Carlos explained. “And then everything came crashing down.”
Erica experienced critical postpartum complications only a few hours after giving birth. According to PEOPLE, massive blood loss caused Erica to go into hypovolemic shock, a condition in which the heart cannot receive adequate blood supply to sustain life. Erica’s heart stopped beating.
Erica died in January 16, 2015, before she could hold her four new babies.
“I went from having the best day of my life to having the worst day of my life the next morning,” Carlos told PEOPLE. “My four children were born, and then my wife died.”
It didn’t take long for Carlos to realize that he was now a single father to four infants. His new focus was on gaining strength for himself and the four little lives that depended on him.
To better care for the quadruplets, he began attending free baby-care classes at the hospital, “learning everything from how to give them a bath, CPR, feeding, and how to manage their sleep schedule.”
“Everything I do now is for my children,” the father added.
Caring for quadruplets is a financially, emotionally, mentally, and physically demanding job, even for partners, but Carlos was now on his own to shoulder all of these responsibilities. This family’s equally beautiful and tragic story went viral online. Donations began pouring into a GoFundMe page set up by one of Erica’s childhood friends, nearly reaching its $500,000 goal.
Carlos also has Erica’s memory to help him through the day, even though he still misses her. “When I’m alone at home, I tell myself that I hope I’m dreaming,” he explained. “Erica was the most special person on the planet, and she deserved to be here to love her children.”
Erica’s ambition was for her children to attend college, get good jobs, and learn to speak English and Spanish. Carlos has promised to do his “utmost to ensure that happens.”
What can you say about this father taking on the responsibility of caring for his children during such a difficult time? Please share your thoughts with us, and please forward this to your loved ones.
