Louise Thompson's heartbreaking admission that she didn’t feel ‘like a mother’ after traumatic labour - she thought she was 'dead'

Two years after giving birth to her only son, Louise Thompson has opened up about her experience

Louise Thompson
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The former Made In Chelsea star Louise Thompson has spoken candidly about her traumatic birth experience that left her struggling to feel ‘like a mother.’

Unfortunately, traumatic birth stories are not an uncommon thing to hear today. The traumatic birth inquiry recently found that the number of negative birth experiences 'are simply not good enough' and the Green Party's ‘harmful’ proposed birth policy, that will only increase the existing stigma for women who ask for elective c-sections, proves that experts and politicians simply haven't caught on to the massive struggle pregnant women face. 

But former reality TV star Louise Thompson is bravely bringing much needed publicity to the issue. 

In November 2021, she gave birth to her first and only son Leo and complications meant she had to have an emergency caesarean section. But the experience didn't go smoothly and she has now revealed that she thought she had died on the operating table during the birth and had woken up in a morgue. 

Speaking on the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, she revealed, "When it finally was over, I then don't remember anyone, I didn't recognise anyone in the room. My body was just being moved onto what felt like a metal table, and I thought that I was dead. I thought I was in like a morgue.”

The trauma of the experience lead Louise to develop PTSD and psychosis, with the star candidly sharing that just looking at her son could take her back to those moments in which she thought she was dead. 

She explained, “I didn't feel like a mother. I couldn't even really compare myself to the norm or... I think what I didn't realise is that I was triggered by Leo, but it took me a long time to actually appreciate that. Like the crying, I remember once holding him, and he was crying loads, and I genuinely didn't know what was going on.

“Then there were moments where, say we did go to Devon for Easter, and I would go out and not have packed anything in a baby bag, like I didn't have water."

But, two-years and multiple hospital visits on, she shared that things have gotten better. "Now we are best friends," she said of her and her son's relationship. "I'm just so grateful that my son has a mother that's still alive and that we have this amazing connection.”

In other entertainment news, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s daughter Shiloh files to officially change surname following parents divorce - legal experts reveal why she might've made this choice. Plus, Stacey Solomon sticks up for working parents and 'wipes the floor' with co-star Denise Welch in heated debate. And, Paloma Faith says the term co-parent ‘over compliments’ men as she opens up about life with her two daughters. 

News writer

Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse is a news writer for Goodtoknow, specialising in family content. She began her freelance journalism career after graduating from Nottingham Trent University with an MA in Magazine Journalism, receiving an NCTJ diploma, and earning a First Class BA (Hons) in Journalism at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. She has also worked with BBC Good Food and The Independent.