Mom dies after giving premature birth to save daughter

FRESNO, California -- Charlene Flores couldn't sleep. The pain from the contractions was too much, so her husband took her to the hospital.

Later, she told him to get some rest and make sure their girls got to school OK. Then, she called him.

"She FaceTimes me and says I need you here right now," said Elesandro Flores, Charlene's husband.

Doctors told Charlene she was bleeding internally, and that if she wanted to save her baby, she would need to have an emergency C-section.

Charlene had a long history of heart problems, but Flores says his wife authorized the high-risk procedure.

"So the doctors come back to me in the room saying your baby's being worked on, your wife's asleep," he said. "And then (I) heard 'code blue.' This lady comes to our door area and says, 'We need you, doctor,' and the doctor rushes back there. And then 20 minutes later, the rest of the doctors and nurses flow in the room and tell me that my wife didn't make it but my daughter's in an incubator getting her treatment."

Elesandro says his wife's heart failed.

She was just 27 years old.

In life, she loved, smiled, and put family before herself, as she did last week.

Baby Quinn was born prematurely, so she will be staying in the neonatal ICU for another month or so.

Dad says her condition is improving every day.

"I told my kids, 'you're (an) extension of your mother,'" Flores said. "You guys are women, and you guys are going to be my life, you guys are going to take that role, you guys are going to take care of me, and I know you will, and they have."

Now on his own, Elesandro needs all the help he can get raising and supporting his four girls.

But he knows Charlene is watching from a better place.

Anyone interested in helping the Flores family can make a donation on their GoFundMe page.