Louise Thompson has revealed she suffered a miscarriage in January 2024 – just over two years after the traumatic birth of her son. The 35-year-old former Made in Chelsea star nearly died giving birth to three-year-old Leo, whom she shares with partner Ryan Libbey, in November 2021 – and this week, she appeared on This Morning to talk about her health struggles.
Louise, who was left post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), also told her story in her book Lucky, which was released on April 24.
She said writing Lucky was a “cathartic” experience as she worked to process everything she had been through. Now, in a new update shared on Instagram, Louise said she suffered a miscarriage over a year ago. She said she has only told “a handful of people” but wanted to share it with her fans as she mentioned it in her book.
The reality TV star posted images of a positive pregnancy test alongside a screenshot of a website that estimated her due date to be September 10, 2024. She wrote on one of the images: “Tw: miscarriage and fertility struggles. I thought I’d include this so that people don’t get the wrong end of the ‘stick’ – Pun unintended… and start wishing me a big fat congratulations for something that isn’t warranted.”
She captioned the post: “This is not now, this was last January. The night before I got on a flight. As if things needed to get more complicated. I only told a handful of people, but I wrote a bit about it in the book and now that it is out there in the big bad world I thought it was easier to share on here than to have anyone question it behind my back. I often find it easier to write this sort of stuff down than to speak about it out loud. And hopefully this will help me process it. Sharing can feel quite liberating.”
Louise added: “The stick in this image is one of those things that I’ve buried. I haven’t allowed myself to give it a second thought. In typical Louise fashion, one trauma has been quickly replaced by another swooping in to take my attention. I haven’t even spoken to Ryan about it in much detail either really… but we’ve had our plates full.”
She continued: “It’s crazy to think that Leo could have had a sibling born last September. I doubt that it was ever going to work. Probably a mere chemical pregnancy. Whatever it was the change in hormones or blood flow to that area caused the most insane amount of bleeding from my bum in the weeks that followed and ended up having my stoma surgery as a result.
“So capiche. That was the end of that dream. Was it a dream though? Not something that was planned, in fact a complete miracle given the circumstances and I’ll let you work that one out, although there are many circumstances that make this one very unusual, including the fact it’s practically a Mary and Joseph moment. But I knew something was different to test because I felt a very unusual sense of tiredness that I only got when being pregnant last time and I felt very sick too. These are not symptoms I’ve experienced aside from my last pregnancy.
“My fertility and our fertility journey is something I’m only just starting to wrap my head around 3 1/2 years after the birth of my beautiful son. There is a lot I haven’t come to terms with, and I haven’t wanted to until now. I remember my therapist asking me about it a few years ago and she asked whether I was sad about my situation and I just brushed it off. It was all way to soon to start thinking about the idea of more anything when I had so much fixing to do.”
In 2022, Louise was diagnosed with Lupus – a long-term condition that causes joint pain, skin rashes and exhaustion. At the time, the mum-of-one described the agony she endured as “intolerable”. Then, in May 2023, Louise revealed that she had suffered “a major haemorrhage” earlier that year, which resulted in her needing emergency surgery. The horror incident, which left Louise requiring several litres of blood and fluids, occurred mere days before she, Ryan and Leo had been due to fly out to St. Lucia to visit friends. Had it happened when she was already over there, she believes she wouldn’t have survived.
Things took a turn the following year when Louise fell ill during a family holiday abroad and was forced to book an early flight home. After immediately heading to A&E, Louise spent more than two weeks in hospital before she was allowed home. Addressing fans from her hospital bed, the star shared how she was “feeling v grateful for home and for life”.
In April of last year, Louise, who lives with ulcerative colitis, opened up about her life-saving stoma bag, which she described as “the grey bag that may well save my life”. Revealing the bag to followers in an Instagram video, Louise reflected: “Isn’t it bizarre that this little grey pouch is the price I pay for good health! I say good riddance to that nasty menacing colon! Please be kind.”
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