Matthew Okula, the spouse of the well-known nursing influencer Hailey Okula, has opened up about the heart-wrenching final moments he spent with his wife before she tragically lost her life due to childbirth complications. The couple, who had been on a two-year journey to conceive, were able to experience a fleeting moment of happiness over the birth of their son, Crew, before Hailey suffered a fatal cardiac arrest.
In a conversation with Fox 11 Los Angeles, Matthew detailed the agonizing decision he had to make between staying with his newborn son or rushing to the ICU to be with his critically ill wife. Hailey, a beloved figure in the nursing community, rapidly fell victim to an amniotic fluid embolism, a condition where remnants from the womb block the mother’s blood flow.
Amniotic fluid embolism is a significant cause of maternal mortality during and immediately after childbirth, contributing to 7.5% of all maternal deaths, according to data from the National Institutes of Health. For Hailey, affectionately known as “Nurse Hailey” to her hundreds of thousands of followers, her death marked a sorrowful conclusion to her two-year journey to motherhood, a journey she had candidly shared on social media.
Matthew, a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department, revealed to Fox 11 how much Hailey had yearned to become a mother. When she announced her pregnancy in September, she described the feeling as “indescribable.” She had been open about her and Matthew’s struggles with infertility, including their shared genetic disease that necessitated a special medical procedure.
Matthew shared his deep sorrow over the loss of his wife, sharing a moving video collage of their relationship. He remembered a moment when he apologized to Hailey for the stress their fertility journey would cause her, to which she replied, “We are a team, and we’ll get through this together.”
Hailey had devoted her online career to inspiring and supporting other healthcare professionals. In 2019, she launched the RN New Grads project, a platform providing guidance and resources to nurses at the beginning of their careers. Matthew described Hailey as “gorgeous, smart, hardworking, passionate, trustworthy, and, above all else, unbelievably loyal,” and expressed his gratitude for her unwavering love and support throughout their 13-year relationship.