An unvaccinated mum died of pneumonia caused by Covid days after giving birth via an emergency c-section.
Crystal Hernandez, who had six kids, never got to hold her youngest son - born at 25 weeks - before she passed away this month.
The 27-year-old, from Pasadena, Texas, US, contracted the virus on New Year's Day and died on January 15.
She and husband Rico refused to get jabbed due to fears of how it could affect her pregnancy, as well as due to religious beliefs.
Rico said: "It all happened so fast and it was being pushed on us very fast and she just didn’t want - she didn’t feel comfortable and so I wasn’t going to go against her wishes."
The couple's newborn son Koda is still in intensive care, according to ABC 13.
Their older children understand that their mum has died but Rico said his three-year-old boy still asks when she will come home from the hospital.
"I try to explain to him [that] mommy is an angel now - she's watching over you," he said.
In one of her final moments of consciousness, Crystal was told that her baby was healthy.
The caesarean had taken place on January 6 and almost immediately she was sedated and intubated as her condition deteriorated.
Rico said: "She never woke up after that. Those were probably her last moments, from what I know."
The couple had both tested positive for Covid and three days into the year Crystal "started feeling chest tightness" and her breathing "got really, really short and really, really bad" and she could hardly talk, he explained.
After she had been admitted to hospital, doctors told Rico his wife was improving but suddenly took a turn for the worse.
Rico said he didn't get to see Crystal until she was close to death.
"I wish I would have hugged her tighter and held her long before I let her walk through those sliding doors," he said.
Rico tells his children to be proud of their mum because "she was very strong and she fought until the very end".
A GoFundMe page for the Hernandez family has so far raised more than $21,400.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding should still get vaccinated, citing an increased risk for severe illness from the virus compared to people who are not pregnant.
