Hailey Okula’s heartbreaking ‘split-second’ with baby she longed for before childbirth death
The nursing influencer who tragically died during childbirth after years of publicising her struggles with infertility was able to see her newborn baby for a “split second” before she passed away, her devastated husband has revealed.
Hailey Okula was known for inspiring and giving advice to new nurses on social media platforms like TikTok. The 33-year-old, whose lifelong dream was to become a parent, went into cardiac arrest after complications from childbirth just minutes after giving birth to her first child, a boy named Crew.
Now, her heartbroken husband, Matthew Okula, has shared an update revealing that his wife was able to see their baby boy for a precious moment before she died on Saturday, March 29. “She was able to see him for a split second, and I’m always going to remember that,” he told Fox 11 News. “[Her death] just came upon me so quickly and unexpectedly.”
Matthew remembered the moment the parents saw their baby son for the first time, before Hailey suddenly suffered an amniotic fluid embolism – when amniotic fluid enters the blood stream – just minutes after the birth.
He said: “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.”
The grieving husband said he took the newborn out of the delivery room for “literally a minute” when Hailey’s health took a sudden and unexpected turn. “Me and Crew walked out of the room and they said they were finishing up, she’ll be there in a moment. Literally a minute later, the doctor came in and let me know they’re doing CPR on her.”
He added: “I’m making the decision, ‘Am I going to the ICU with my wife or am I staying with my newborn baby?”‘Not the decision we thought I’d be making.”
Known as Nurse Hailey on social media, Hailey, a registered nurse in Los Angeles, had 212,000 followers on TikTok, where she detailed the couple’s struggles with infertility. Husband Matthew previously paid an emotional tribute to his wife, who he had been with for nearly 13 years, calling her his “everything”.
Sharing the heartbreaking news on Instagram, he wrote: “It is with the heaviest of heart that I share the devastating news of the unexpected passing of my beautiful wife. Words cannot convey the depth of the loss I feel. Hailey was more than I could have ever dreamed of in a wife and partner.
She was gorgeous, smart, hardworking, passionate, trustworthy, and above all else, unbelievably loyal. 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.”
He added: “Hailey’s strength was unparalleled. Words can’t describe how badly we wanted to be parents. After years of infertility struggles and a long, challenging IVF process, we were overjoyed to be expecting Crew. Hailey faced every hurdle with so much courage and love – even though her body went through so much, she never wavered.”
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