Nurse creates baby registry for new mom who died of COVID-19

He added, “Even though she was in the hospital, I always felt like she was there, holding me. But then I knew she was walking away.”

As he dialed the hospital number on his phone he received a call at the same instant, Robison said, his wife’s heart had stopped, the hospital told him. In less than 46 minutes, Emily was deceased, leaving behind loved ones, including her husband and their baby.

“After that, I was just a lost soul,” Robison said.

Now a single father, mourning the loss of his soul mate and preparing to embark on the journey of fatherhood on his own, Robison was unsure of what to do.

But a nurse supported him, as did hundreds of strangers who heard his story and sent baby supplies, equipment, gifts and donations to help him get through the tragedy.

A helping hand in desperate need

Ashlee Schwartz remembers the first time she saw Robison.

He was sitting outside his wife’s hospital room, separated by a glass door, looking at her just “so clearly heartbroken,” Schwartz said.

An intensive care nurse at Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith, Arkansas – where she has worked for 10 years – Schwartz had just learned that Robison’s wife, a 22-year-old pregnant woman, had been intubated and placed on life support.

“The image will forever be etched in my head. He was just staring dazedly. It literally broke my heart,” she told CNN.

“Especially as an intensive care nurse, the reality of living with this virus is that any patient’s story could very well be our own story one day and I was like, ‘What if this was me sitting on that chair looking in my husband’s room? “”

But despite the risks, pregnant people remain among the most vaccine-reluctant populations in the United States, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When Robison contracted the virus from someone he works with, he felt better after a few days as Emily’s health rapidly deteriorated. She was hospitalized with Covid-19 pneumonia on August 15 and was placed on life support three days later, according to Robison.

“Before they put her on a ventilator, I told her I loved her more than anything,” he said. “I told her something I shouldn’t have, I promised she would come back to me. She whispered that she loved me and that was the last time I spoke to her.”

On August 25, Emily’s condition worsened and delivery nurses struggled to get the baby’s heart rate.

That day, Carmen Robison was born from an emergency cesarean, almost two months premature.

“I called Eric and asked him if he and Emily had a baby registry and he didn’t know what a registry was. He said all they had for Carmen was clothes. Emily was fighting for her life, I just felt called out and a sense of responsibility to make sure this baby had everything she needed, ”said Schwartz.

“All I could imagine was Emily coming home after being in the hospital for months and not having much for Carmen and wondering ‘Why hasn’t someone it not help? ‘”

The gifts arrived, with almost all of the gifts on the books purchased and sent to the family. Over 200 people have donated and over 300 have donated money to GoFundMe.

“I never imagined that the freebies would start pouring in from all over Arkansas and the rest of the country,” Robison said. “It’s bittersweet, because I wish Emily was still alive to see it. But not having to worry about Carmen being taken care of is one less thing I have to worry about. right now.”

Baby Carmen is set to return home with her father on Monday after spending two months in the hospital due to reflex problems with her feedings, a common problem with many premature babies.

“I’m very grateful to everyone who helped me, even those who texted me saying they couldn’t give me money but would pray for me. It’s pretty perfect for me. “said Robison. “I know Emily is watching right now crying with happiness. She always wanted to be a mom.”

Schwartz made two photos, courtesy of Robison, of Emily’s handprints. When Carmen is released, her handprints will be placed on Emily’s.

“She will keep a memory of her mom forever,” said Schwartz.

“She would still be here if we took it seriously”

Saturday would have marked Emily and Robison’s fourth birthday and three years since their marriage.

The couple had met on Facebook, where they immediately connected and found each other on the phone every day for hours. Within a month, they moved in together and became inseparable.

In October 2018, they got married. His dream of finding her forever person had come true, he said, and he had no intention of letting her go.

“She was like the female Jim Carrey. She was extremely clumsy, extremely cute,” Robison said. “Wherever I was with her, I was at home. That’s what I always felt with her, even when we hit rock bottom.”

When Robison closes his eyes, all he can hear is the hospital intercom yelling “code blue room 22” over and over again in the moments before he loses his wife. Code blue is the hospital emergency code.

“That sound from the heart monitor as they push her, trying to pull her back, that sound has been playing in my nightmare every night since,” he said.

“I had to be in Covid gear to see her after she died because she was so sick, but that kept me from kissing her. I didn’t care. The moment they closed the curtains, I ripped off the face mask and kissed I told her that I love her and that I’m sorry I didn’t try harder. “

Now Robison just wishes they got the shot, a message he wants to send to anyone who hasn’t received the shot yet.

“It’s a pain unlike anything I’ve felt in my life, sitting there watching my wife, dead on a bed, holding her hand and watching the color come out of her face,” he said. declared. “Get vaccinated. It’s very serious. She would still be there if we took it seriously.”