Preemie quadruplets of deceased Phoenix mom doing well

PHOENIX, Arizona - The quadruplets of Phoenix mom Erica Morales, who died right after childbirth, are doing well, family members said.

Baby girls Paisley, Tracey and Erica and baby boy Carlos were born Thursday night, seven months into Morales' pregnancy. All four them weighed between 2 to 3 pounds, reports CBS affiliate KPHO in Phoenix.

Morales, however, entered the hospital with high blood pressure last Tuesday, and didn't survive giving birth.

"She loved them she was so happy to welcome them to this world," Erica's friend, Nicole Todman, told KPHO. "She loved their father and he loved her and that they will never be without love."

Morales never got to hold her kids, Todman said, because she was unconscious by the time they were delivered by C-section.

Officials have yet to release an official cause of death.

Morales, a real estate agent, and her husband, Carlos, who works in manufacturing, had been trying to conceive a baby for two years, Todman said. She said Morales tried everything from acupuncture to fertility treatments. Morales suffered a miscarriage before becoming pregnant last June. Nicole and Christina Todman told KPHO they consider themselves Erica's sisters. The three had known each other since grade school. They were there Thursday when Erica went into deliver her.

"We are here for this," Christina Todman said. "We are here to be a mother figure for these children because they are never going to meet their biological mother. They are going to have it through us, they are going to have it through their mother."

Todman, who has been best friends with Morales since childhood, said Morales was more nervous about being a new mother than raising four children at once. Because of her previous miscarriage, Morales was apprehensive about getting too excited about the babies' arrival. She mainly focused on doing things correctly throughout her pregnancy such as eating enough, Todman said.

"Her focus of her pregnancy was to make sure she did everything to make sure they were healthy so she was able to bring them into this world -- and she did," Todman said.

The Todman sisters along with Erica's husband, Carlos, created a Go Fund Me account for people to donate. As of Sunday afternoon, they had raised nearly $67,000.