Mom with COVID-19 delivers baby she would never be able to hold: ‘Mom was about to go to heaven’ – USA TODAY

Breaking from their earlier guidance, the CDC now says pregnant women with COVID-19 are at higher risk than non-pregnant women. USA TODAY

Weeks before she was diagnosed with COVID-19,Vanessa Cardenas Gonzalez picked the name "Heaven" for the child she would soon deliver herfirst girl.

That name now comforts the husband she left behind, who caresfor the daughter Vanessa never held.

The name is prophetic of what was about to happen to mom,"Alfonso Gonzaleztold USA TODAY."Mom was about to go to heaven.

Vanessa the mother of two boys and newborn Heaven died Dec. 14 in Los Angeles at the age of 33 after battling COVID-19 complications for about a month.

Heaven was born in November, before the worst of Vanessa's illness.But becauseVanessawas positive for the virus at the time, theonly interactions she had with her daughter were through video calls,family friendDesiree Vera who has organized a crowdfunding campaign to benefit the family told USA TODAY.

Vanessa Cardenas Gonzalez and husband Alfonso Gonzalez celebrated the news that Vanessa was expecting a girl at a live-streamed gender reveal party in July.(Photo: Courtesy Alfonso Gonzalez)

Vera, who became close withVanessa andAlfonso through a church small group, knows the story is "heartbreaking."

Vanessa was a healthy young mother, who spent months eagerly awaitingthe birth of her first daughter.She even began buying items for a baby girl before they knew the baby's gender.

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In July, Vanessa wore pink as she and Alfonso popped a confetti-filled balloon in a live-streamed gender reveal, which was held virtually due to the pandemic. When the confetti that explodedwas also pink,the two laughed and smiled with joy.Vanessa dabbed her eyes before ending the livestream.

But when Heaven was delivered in November, doctors and nurses whisked the baby away to preventVanessa from infecting the newborn. When she returned home,Alfonso had more bad news:Vanessa would still need to isolate from the child at home, even though she longed to be in the same room as Heaven.

It cant happen like that;Im sorry, Vanessa, he remembers telling her.

Soonher condition deteriorated. After a heart attack, she spent her final days on life support withAlfonso virtually by her side praying, readingand playing music to comfort her.

But amid the tragedy of her death,Alfonso speaks of gratitude and hope.

He's grateful fora church family that has supported him at every turn buying groceries, helping him navigateVanessa's medical care, raising funds to help his family.

Im so blessed to have a family in church theyre so selfless, he said of close friends from New BeginningCommunity Ministries. He credits his faith with giving him the strength to carry on and begin to rebuild.

As Vanessa's story gains attention, he hopes she will be remembered for more than her final days.

I just want people to remember her as a loving mother, a loving wifeand a loving friend," he said. She was the kind of person who would "stop in her tracks and give and he hopes her memory will encourage others to do the same.

Vera remembersVanessa as shy but giving someone who fed the homeless and loved teaching her children.

She hopes Vanessa's story will help others better understand the devastation of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 325,000 Americans so far includingVera's father.

This virus is very, very real to us."

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Mom with COVID-19 delivers baby she would never be able to hold: 'Mom was about to go to heaven' - USA TODAY