A Los Angeles firefighter is fighting to raise awareness about the rare but deadly birthing complication that killed his wife, local nursing influencer Hailey Marie Okula.
Matthew Okula hopes that his efforts will educate expectant mothers and encourage them to discuss the potential complication, amniotic fluid embolism, with their healthcare providers. Aside from raising public awareness, he hopes Hailey’s story will prompt more medical research.
“My hope is that we find a way to figure this out prior to it being a fatal complication that you are running around trying to save someone is life,” he told me.
In September 2024, the Okulas announced their pregnancy via a video on Hailey’s popular “Rn New Grads” Instagram account, following nearly two years of in vitro fertilization treatment.
The announcement was especially significant for the couple because “we [had] gone through a lot, [Hailey] had gone through a lot with the shots, medicine, hormones that have to go into your body to get it ready,” Okula told The Times on Friday. “To have success at the end, it was really special for us.”
They met nearly 13 years ago and decided to pursue careers that would benefit their community. She became an emergency room nurse, and he joined the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Okula describes his wife, known as “Nurse Hailey” on Instagram and TikTok, as a driven individual and entrepreneur whose vision of assisting graduating nurses in finding jobs grew into a thriving social media hub that included interview flashcards for sale and videos of her real-life experiences in the emergency room.
Okula is now relying on the support of that online community, as well as his family and colleagues, following Hailey’s death from an amniotic fluid embolism on March 29.
According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, amniotic fluid embolism is an extremely rare but life-threatening complication that has stumped healthcare providers because there are no pre-existing risk factors, making prevention impossible.
Hailey was 41 weeks pregnant and was scheduled for an induction at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley three days before her death. Okula stated that they wanted to try a natural birth after discussing the possibility of repeating IVF treatment. The couple hoped to eventually have four children.
During delivery, healthcare providers informed Hailey that she would need a cesarean section. The procedure went well, and their baby boy, Crew, was born.
“I hear the baby crying and [the doctors] lift him up, we see him and Hailey says something about how big he was,” Okula told me.
At the time, everything appeared normal. Okula stated that he cut Crew’s umbilical cord, and the doctor informed him that Hailey was doing well and that he could wait for her in the next room with the baby.
His last words to Hailey were to tell her how beautiful Crew was and that he would see her in the next room.
“She had a small tear on her face, so I wiped it away,” he said.
Just minutes later, the doctor entered the room and informed Okula that Hailey’s heart had stopped. Okula returned to the delivery room, shocked, to find “15 people doing all these different interventions to bring her back.”
Hailey was rushed to the intensive care unit, but hospital staff quickly delivered the devastating news: she had died of an amniotic fluid embolism, a complication Okula had never heard of before.
Amniotic fluid, found within the amniotic sac, supports, cushions, and protects the developing fetus.
According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, the complication occurs when a pregnant woman has a severe allergic reaction to amniotic fluid or other material, such as fetal cells, that enters her bloodstream.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, amniotic fluid embolism can cause heart and lung failure, resulting in a variety of complications due to a lack of oxygenated blood.
Symptoms include shortness of breath, a sudden drop in blood pressure, and bleeding, which can lead to cardiac arrest and massive hemorrhaging.
According to experts, the complication occurs unexpectedly and can affect both the mother and the baby prior to, during, or immediately following labor and delivery.
Because of its rarity and high fatality rate, the Amniotic Fluid Embolism Foundation describes it as extremely difficult to study. However, it is estimated to affect one in every 40,000 births, with mortality rates ranging from 20% to 60%.