Nurse influencer’s husband reveals heartbreaking detail about wife’s death
Hailey Okula’s husband, Matthew Okula, has opened up about the final moment his wife had with their newborn son before her death.
On Tuesday, Matthew posted a video on the nursing influencer’s Instagram and TikTok to announce her death, only two days after she gave birth. After welcoming her son, Crew, via a cesarean section, Hailey suffered an amniotic fluid embolism (AFE), a rare complication during childbirth, and went into cardiac arrest.
Now, Matthew has spoken out about Crew’s first and last moment with Hailey.
“She was able to see him for a split second, and I’m always going to remember that,” he recalled during an interview with Fox 11 Los Angeles, published on Wednesday.
“We both looked at him and [it was] just Hailey’s personality. She said a little something because she saw how big he was. We had a quick little laugh there, she had a little tear on her face,” he added.
From there, Crew walked out of the room with his newborn, after the doctors told him they were “finishing up” and that Hailey would be “there in a moment.” However, only a minute later, he learned that something was wrong.
“The doctor comes in and lets me know that they’re doing CPR on her. I’m making the decision, ‘Am I going to the ICU to be with my wife or am I staying with my newborn little baby?’” he said with tears in his eyes. “Not the decision I thought I would be making.”
During the interview, he also addressed how unexpected his wife’s death was.
“The doctors say it was from a very, very rare complication known as amniotic fluid embolism,” he said about Hailey, who got pregnant through IVF. “There’s no treatment, there’s no way of diagnosing it. It’s so sad to think of other people having to go through what I’m going through right now.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, an amniotic fluid embolism is “a dangerous and life-threatening complication that occurs during delivery or shortly after giving birth.” The condition is difficult to diagnose because “the symptoms can be similar to other serious complications during childbirth.”
In his Instagram post on Tuesday, Matthew acknowledged how badly he and his wife “wanted to be parents” following “years of infertility struggles and a long, challenging IVF process,” which Hailey spoke openly about on her social media. He applauded Hailey for her courage and grace throughout “every hurdle” she faced.
“I will never forget the moment I broke down, apologizing for the toll the [IVF] process would take on her. She held my face, looked into my eyes, and said, ‘We are a team, and we’ll get through this together.’ That was Hailey,” he wrote in the caption, which included videos of him and his wife. “A woman who would do anything for the people she loved.”
Matthew, who was married to Hailey for 13 years, also celebrated her career accomplishments as an ER nurse. In 2019, she created RN New Grads, which aims to help newly graduated nurses launch their careers.
“She was so proud of it and was dedicated to creating something meaningful, not just for herself, but for the nursing community she loved so much,” Matthew added. “She dreamed of helping new nurses thrive while also being present for our sweet Crew, building a life and legacy she was so proud of.”
A GoFundMe has been set up for Matthew to help him “navigate life as a single father while grieving the love of his life.” Donations will go towards funeral and memorial expenses for Hailey, household bills and utilities, future baby supplies and childcare for Crew, and Matthew’s time off from work so he can be with his son. At the time of writing, the fundraiser had raised $291,717 out of its $300,000 goal.
“This isn’t about charity—it’s about duty, about standing by one of our own when he needs us the most. As firefighters, we never leave a brother behind. As a community, we step up when our family is hurting,” the GoFundMe reads.
After starting RN New Grads, Hailey became a beloved face in the online nursing community. She had more than 420,000 followers on Instagram, where she posted videos about being an ER nurse and shared her candid advice about entering this field.
