What should have been the happiest day for a Colorado father turned into a devastating nightmare when he was forced to choose between saving the life of his unborn baby or his wife.

Frederick Connie knew something was wrong when his wife, Keyvonne Connie, who wasn’t due to deliver their baby girl until the middle of January, began hemorrhaging on the morning of Nov. 30, reported KDVR.

“I’m like, 'Are you OK? And I see blood everywhere,” Frederick told the local news station.

He then rushed his wife to the hospital, where doctors presented him with the heartbreaking reality. 

“It was either give her the surgery first and maybe save her life, but you’re going to lose your daughter. Or your daughter can be saved but there’s a chance you might lose your wife,” Frederick Connie told KDVR.

For Frederick, he knew that he would ultimately have to choose for his wife to have a C-section to save the baby.

“I’m glad I made that decision because in the end if Keyvonne probably could have survived she would have hated me for the rest of my life because I knew how she felt about kids,” he said.

Although Keyvonne made it through the C-section and was even able to see pictures of her baby girl, her health began to rapidly decline.

“Literally all of her insides just went all over the bed and the floor,” he said. “They tried [to save her] and her heart couldn’t take it. She died before they could even get her to the surgery.”

She died the same day their daughter, Angelique Keyvonne Connie, was born.

“I gave her her mom’s name. She’s going to know her mom. I’ll make sure of that,” he said.

Now, the baby, who Connie calls “Pooder,” is battling her own health issues and will likely spend weeks in the hospital. With her mother gone, she is relying on donated breast milk and clothes from nurses.

“I’m [ignorant] on changing diapers but I’m going to learn. I’m going to be a full-time father to her,” Connie said.

Once Pooder is released from the hospital, Connie says he will plan his wife’s funeral.

“I’m financially not OK. This debt is like piling up and I have to bury my wife, my daughter coming into the world, it’s so high right now,” he said.

Friends and family who sympathized with Frederick donated to a fundraiser started by his boss, Justin Collin.

In just four days, the fundraiser has raised more than $15,000.

Also the owners of Taylor Mortuary based in Aurora, Colorodo, offered funeral and cremation services free of charge for Frederick’s wife.

“Being a mother, it really moved me because 38 years ago when I had my son I had preeclampsia and toxemia. I was in labor for three days. I almost died as well as my son,” LeQuita Taylor told KDVR.

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