“Two months ago, we were sitting here talking about Carmen coming,” Eric Robison said, looking at the bassinet and other baby gear scattered around their bedroom. “Now I’m sitting here with all these gifts, Carmen is in the hospital, and my wife is gone.”
The couple met via Facebook more than four years ago and quickly fell in love, Robison said. They married months later and began talking about having children.
She had a goofy sense of humor and felt close to her family, wonderful attributes of a caring mother, Robison said.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Emily, who had asthma, frequently wore her mask, but he didn’t, Robison said. Neither got vaccinated.
“We were young,” he said. “There are middle-aged people who get sick. You don’t think this would happen to you.” …
A day after he experienced symptoms, his wife tested positive for the virus. When she stopped feeling Carmen kicking, they rushed to the hospital, he said
They regretted not getting vaccinated, he said. …
While Emily was conscious, he wasn’t permitted to be in her hospital room. They called and texted, her pleading to see him. The last time they got to talk to each other, he watched as tears streamed down her face in a video call. She typed questions about her care, asking what was happening. She couldn’t speak anymore.
“The last thing I ever said to her was, ‘I love you,’ ” he said.
The Post highlights low vaccination rates in Arkansas.
The baby was born weighing 2 pounds, 9 ounces, but as of last week had grown to 5 pounds and could be released from the hospital in another week.