Nursing influencer Hailey Okula dies during childbirth after facing infertility struggles
For nine months, Hailey Okula’s Instagram followers watched her balance the demands of her job with the happiness of preparing for her and her husband’s first child.
For nine months, Hailey Okula’s Instagram followers watched her balance the demands of her job with the happiness of preparing for her and her husband’s first child. Now, that same community is coming together to support her husband and their newborn son in the aftermath of her death.
Okula, an ER nurse known on Instagram as Nurse Hailey, died from childbirth complications shortly after welcoming her son, Crew, according to a Tuesday 1 update shared by her husband, Matthew Okula.
Matthew Okula’s post featured a video collage of their relationship and pregnancy journey, which included video of his wife in labor.
“It is with the heaviest of heart that I share the devastating news of the unexpected passing of my beautiful wife, Hailey Marie Okula,” the post reads. “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. 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.”
In 2019, Hailey Okula founded RN New Grads to support newly graduated nurses, providing information about finding work and launching into a nursing career. Her RN New Grads Instagram account shared vulnerable content as she opened up about her pregnancy journey and the challenges she and her husband faced with infertility and IVF. She grew the Instagram community to over 400K followers.
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