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A nurse created a baby registry for a new father after his unvaccinated wife died of Covid-19 before meeting their baby - CNN
Oct 24, 2021 2 mins, 55 secs
But in that moment, I knew she was slipping away."

As he was dialing the hospital on his phone, he received a call in the same instant, Robison said, His wife's heart had stopped, the hospital told him.

Within 46 minutes, Emily had passed away, 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 alone, Robison wasn't sure what to do.

But one nurse had his back -- as did hundreds of strangers who heard his story and sent baby supplies, materials, gifts and donations to help him through the tragedy.

A helping hand in times of desperate need

Ashlee Schwartz remembers the first time she saw Robison.

He was sitting in front of his wife's hospital room, separated by a glass door, just looking at her "so clearly heartbroken," Schwartz said.

An ICU 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 inscribed in my head.

It literally broke my heart to pieces," she told CNN.

"Especially as an ICU nurse, the reality of life with this virus is any patient's story could very well be our own story someday and I just thought to myself 'What if this was me sitting in this chair staring into my husband's room?'"

The couple had been unvaccinated because of misinformation that the vaccine causes issues in pregnant women and could hurt the baby.

She whispered that she loved me and that was the last time I talked to her."

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

That day, Carmen Robison was born in an emergency C-section, nearly two months premature.

As Emily was fighting for her life, I just felt called and a sense of responsibility to make sure this baby had everything she needed," Schwartz said.

"All I could picture was Emily coming home after being in the hospital for months and not having much of anything for Carmen and asking herself 'Why did someone not help me?'"

The nurse created a baby registry on Amazon, Babylist, and Target, and launched a GoFundMe for the family that has so far raised more than $16,000.

The gifts came rolling in, with nearly all the gifts on the registries purchased and mailed to the family.

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 go home with her dad on Monday after spending two months at the hospital due to reflex issues with her feedings, a common problem in many premature babies.

"I'm so grateful for everyone who has helped, even those who have messaged me saying they can't give me money but will pray for me.

I told her I loved her and that I'm sorry I didn't try harder."

Now, Robison just wishes they had gotten vaccinated, a message he wants to send to everyone who has yet to receive the vaccine.

"It's a different pain than anything I've felt in my life, sitting there looking at my wife, dead on a bed, holding her hand and watching the color roll out of her face," he said.

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