Hailey Okula, known as ‘Nurse Hailey,' dies moments after giving birth to first child
A 33-year-old nurse with a massive following on social media died from childbirth complications moments after giving birth to her first child.
Hailey Okula, known as 'Nurse Hailey,' used her platform — which included more than 425,000 followers on Instagram — to document her infertility struggles and pregnancy journey.
In September, she shared that she and her husband, Matt Okula — a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department — were pregnant after dealing with infertility for nearly two years.
She called the news 'indescribable' in her Instagram announcement Sept. 16.
'Without going too much into detail about my journey,' she wrote in the caption, 'the journey has been hard, but so worth it.'
She added that both she and her husband struggled with infertility problems and carried the same genetic disease that made getting pregnant that much harder.
On April 1, Matt Okula took to that same Instagram account to share the 'devastating' news of his wife's death due to complications from childbirth.
'Words cannot convey the depth of the loss I feel,' Matt Okula wrote in the caption alongside a video montage of their journey. 'Hailey was more than I could have ever dreamed of in a wife and partner.'
'For nearly 13 years, she stood by my side in the hardest of times, loving me endlessly, even when I felt undeserving of that love,' he continued. 'She was my everything.'
In an interview with KTTV, Matt Okula told TV reporter Hailey Winslow that his wife died from a rare complication known as amniotic fluid embolism (AFE).
AFE is 'a rare and life-threatening complication that occurs when a pregnant woman gets amniotic fluid into their bloodstream just before, during or immediately after childbirth,' according to Cleveland Clinic.
The couple's son, Crew, was born March 29 via a C-section, per KTTV. Winslow reported that Hailey Okula took one glance at her son before joking about 'how big he was.'
Two minutes later, she notified nurses that she didn't feel well before going into cardiac arrest.
'A minute later, the doctor comes in and lets me know that they're doing CPR on her,' Matt Okula said. 'I'm making the decision: Am I going to the ICU with my wife or am I staying with my newborn little baby?'
'Not a decision we thought I'd be making,' he said, noting that his wife wanted to be a mom 'so incredibly bad.'
Matt Okula, who was on the frontlines of the Palisades Fire earlier this year, told reporters that his wife was able to see her son for a 'split second' — a moment he says he'll 'always remember.'
In his April 1 Instagram post, he praised his wife.
'I will never forget the moment I broke down, apologizing for the toll the process would take on her,' he wrote of their 'long, challenging IVF process.'
'She held my face, looked into my eyes, and said, 'We are a team, and we'll get through this together,'' he recalled. 'That was Hailey. A fighter. A teammate. A woman who would do anything for the people she loved.'
Matt Okula also praised his wife for the global nursing community she built through her business, RN New Grads.
The company, formed in 2019, is 'committed to helping new graduate nurses and nursing students succeed and create a safe place for all nurses,' according to its website.
'Hailey always loved the community she built, and it fulfilled such a huge dream of hers to be a successful, self-made entrepreneur,' Matt Okula wrote in the comment section of his post.
'You all made such an incredible impact on her life, and for that, I'll always be grateful,' he added.
In the comment, Matt Okula vowed to do everything he can to 'figure out how to continue this business in her honor.'
On April 1, a GoFundMe was created in honor of Hailey Okula to help cover funeral costs, household bills, baby supplies and time off work.
'Matt is not one to ask for help—but those who know him, especially his brothers and sisters in the fire service, know the kind of man he is,' the GoFundMe description read.
'A man who has dedicated his life to protecting others. Now, it's our turn to protect him,' the description continued.
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