Made in Chelsea star Louise Thompson says she can never have another baby after experiencing severe health issues giving birth to her son Leo.
The reality TV star, 35, says she nearly died while giving birth to her son, now four, during an emergency caesarean section.
She lost more than three and a half litres of blood and later suffered a second major haemorrhage at home. Louise says the traumatic complications triggered a series of long-term health problems, including the need for a stoma.
The online influencer has now become an outspoken campaigner for women’s health and maternity rights, The Daily Mail reports.
The mother-of-one also believes many young women are being deterred from having children after hearing "horror" stories of difficult labours.
Louise said: "It’s something that a lot of people within my circle are talking about fairly regularly – the population problems we have.
"Thousands of women are crying out to me about this topic. Speaking on my own personal experience, I won't be able to carry another child. So immediately that puts us in a position where we are part of that problem now.”
Louise has worked with former Conservative MP Theo Clarke, who suffered a difficult birth with her three-year-old daughter, to establish the Birth Trauma All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).
She is now lobbying the Government to create a new commissioner role overseeing maternity care and is hoping a public petition will gain 100,000 signatures to trigger a Parliamentary debate.
After her son Leo was born, Louise was left with multiple injuries, including a post-natal haemorrhage. She also developed Asherman’s Syndrome — a condition where scar tissue forms inside the uterus and causes it to “glue together” — which led to bowel complications and urgent surgery.
In an interview on Lorraine last year, Louise said she would “never mentally be strong enough to carry a child” again, adding that she has suffered post-traumatic stress as a result of the traumatic birth.
Last month, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the House of Commons that deaths of women and babies during childbirth have been “normalised” in the UK and would not be tolerated elsewhere.
Mr Streeting said: “Taking a step back and looking at the overall picture, we’ve had the normalisation of deaths of women and babies. We have levels of loss and death in this country which are simply not tolerated in others. We have a shocking culture of cover-up and backside covering.”
His comments came as a national investigation into maternity care in England continues, with Baroness Amos expected to publish her findings in December. Researchers at Oxford University have found that maternal mortality rates among Black women are almost three times higher than among white women, while Asian women are twice as likely to die.
There has also been a rise in maternal deaths among white women, with rates increasing by 27% between 2009 and 2022.
The inquiry led by Lady Amos will report in two stages: first, an examination of the 10 most concerning maternity and neonatal units, followed by a broader system-wide review of maternity and neonatal care, bringing together lessons from previous investigations.
