Walker Hayes Recounts the Tragic Loss of Baby Daughter, Talks the Healing Power of Love in New Interview
"How am I the one to explain, it’s a girl, but you know, she died?’ I knew that was just going to crush Laney.”
Walker Hayes and his wife Laney were over the moon to learn they were expecting their seventh child this spring. But cheer quickly turned to devastation on the morning of June 6, when Laney went into labor.
The couple were preparing for a home birth when Laney’s labor began to go awry. While monitoring her symptoms, the baby’s heartbeat suddenly faded, and Laney went through a nonstop contraction. That’s when their midwife called 911.
An ambulance rushed Laney to the hospital, where she was immediately taken into emergency surgery because her uterus had ruptured. It was then that a nurse came to tell Hayes the devastating news: His baby, a girl, had died.
“‘What do I do?’” Hayes recalled of his immediate thoughts during an interview with People. “‘When Laney wakes up, how do I tell her? How am I the one to explain, it’s a girl, but you know, she died?’ I knew that was just going to crush Laney.”
As the thoughts rushed through his mind, the nurse continued talking, revealing that Laney’s life also hung in the balance. After almost two hours in surgery and massive blood transfusions, Laney was saved by her surgical team and Hayes had to break the news about their daughter’s passing.
I sold at least 6 albums today #boom.
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Per the advice of someone the midwife knew–a woman who had lost a newborn four years prior–once Laney was fully awake, the couple spent the day with their daughter, whom they’d named Oakleigh Klover.
“I didn’t know what was morbid, I didn’t know what was normal,” Hayes said. “But she began just walking me through the process…It is a miracle she was there.”
The couple was joined in the room by their oldest daughter, Lela, Craig Cooper (the subject of Hayes’ song “Craig”) and Cooper’s wife Laura.
“Watching Walker hold her,” Laney recalled, “you felt like she’s just going to wake up. You think, oh, please, just let her start breathing…She was swaddled and she just looked like a newborn baby.”
The funeral was held several days after Hayes’ wife left the hospital. Laney’s father, a woodworker, built a tiny casket. Hayes and his sons Beckett, Baylor and Chapel served as pallbearers and Craig as the officiant. The hardest part of the day, for Hayes, was leaving the cemetery.
Bad ass mom. Bad ass wife. Bad ass photographer 💪🏼
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“It’s not easy to just say goodbye,” he said. “Even though she’s not there.”
It’s been three months since Oakleigh’s passing and the couple are still going over all the ‘what ifs.’ They take comfort in knowing that they did everything they could for their child. Even if they’d been at the hospital when the rupture occurred, Laney’s obstetrician assured, the baby still wouldn’t have survived.
“It is that catastrophic, no matter how you look at it,” Laney shared.
While the couple, and their six other children, take their loss day by day, Hayes couldn’t be more appreciative of the support he’s had around him.
“Laney and I have cried a lot,” Hayes said, “but one thing that makes me the happiest is how much love there has been around us. We’ve had the most remarkable questions answered and advice given from people around our neighborhood and in meet-and-greet lines. People walk up to me and tell me their life, and it’s like, geez, thank you for sharing. I don’t even know these people.”
More of Hayes’ story will be shared in the latest print version of People.
