By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2025-04-03 19:04:39 | Updated at 2025-04-04 23:25:24
1 day ago
The husband of nursing influencer Hailey Okula opened up about the heartbreaking final moments he spent with his wife before she died from complications from giving birth to their first child.
Matthew Okula and his wife, who had been struggling to have a baby for two years, shared a “quick little laugh” over how big their newborn was minutes before the new mother went into cardiac arrest, Okula told Fox 11 Los Angeles on Wednesday.
“A minute later, the doctor 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?’” the new dad said, holding back tears.
Hailey Okula quickly succumbed to an amniotic fluid embolism, a rare complication in which leftover material from a mother’s womb blocks her blood flow.
For Hailey, it was a tragic end to a two-year quest to have a child that had inspired hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
“She wanted to be a mom so incredibly bad,” Matthew Okula told Fox 11.
Amniotic fluid embolism is the leading cause of death during and just after childbirth, contributing to 7.5% of all maternal deaths, according to the National Institutes of Health.
“Words cannot convey the depth of the loss I feel,” Okula wrote alongside a heartwarming video collage of his and Hailey’s relationship.
“She was gorgeous, smart, hardworking, passionate, trustworthy, and, above all else, unbelievably loyal. 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. She was my everything.”
