Louise Thompson says fiancé is ‘angry’ traumatic birth experience prevents them from having second child
Louise Thompson has opened up on how her traumatic birth experience and its harrowing aftermath has affected her relationship with fiancé and former Made in Chelsea co-star, Ryan Libbey.
The 34-year-old was forced to have an emergency caesarean in November 2021 after a series of difficulties with the hospital where she had her natal care.
The event led to a series of physical and mental complications, which led to haemorrhages, the removal of her colon, fitting of a stoma bag, and a series of newly diagnosed physical and mental health conditions.
The influencer told The Times that the ordeal affected her relationship with Libbey, giving rise to cheating allegations, anger and bitterness.
“We were in a bad place,” said Thompson, recalling how she wrongly suspected her partner of cheating on her in the run-up to the birth.
As the physical and mental health conditions took their toll after her traumatic birth experience, Thompson hired private nurses to help Libbey care for her as he worried she would die.
“I can’t even put a figure on how much this has cost me. I often think about single mothers. Or mothers with other children,” she said.
“But I have never felt bitter. Ryan does. He is very, very angry because we can’t give Leo a sibling as a result of what happened. He has had his own trauma.
“I used to wake up and he’d be staring at me, afraid to go to sleep because he felt he had to keep watch over me in case I died.”
Speaking of coming through her experience, she said: “I was lost in those early months of 2022 screaming because I was in so much [mental] pain. I find it hard to believe that my brain is working again now.”
The couple hope to undergo IVF to freeze embryos in case they decide to explore surrogacy in the future.
The TV personality has written about her experience in her forthcoming book, Lucky: Learning to Live Again, which will be released on Thursday (16 May).
“I was very unlucky because I had this cascade of events happen to me,” she said. “‘Old Louise’ would have been fuming because when I wanted something in the past, I made it happen. But none of it matters, not even the fact that I can’t carry another child. It’s over now — and I’ve been given a second shot at life.”
