Louise Thompson shares unseen videos from her traumatic birth
Louise Thompson has shared emotional unseen clips from her traumatic birth ordeal as she called for a meeting with Health Secretary Wes Streeting to improve maternity care in the UK.Following her own ordeal four years ago, the Made In Chelsea star has joined forces with former Conservative MP Theo Clarke to campaign for the appointment of a maternity commissioner, after a Parliamentary enquiry led by the pair found there is 'shockingly poor quality' in maternity services across the UK.Louise, who was diagnosed with PTSD after the difficult birth of her son Leo in 2021, shared the videos from her experience on Instagram, dedicating the post 'to those who didn't survive or lost their babies.'The star added that she's launched a petition asking for a maternity commissioner to be appointed, and urged her followers to sign it, in the hope of getting 100,000 signatures so the topic can be debated in Parliament.Louise has previously shared that her injuries – which include developing Asherman's Syndrome, in which scar tissue in the uterus becomes 'glued' together, worsening bowel problems and emergency surgery after a post-natal haemorrhage – means that she cannot carry another child.And in her video, she told her followers that there needs to be 'a national maternity strategy' after speaking to other mothers who had endured similar experiences. Louise Thompson has shared emotional unseen clips from her traumatic birth ordeal as she called for a meeting with Health Secretary Wes Streetingto improve maternity care in the UK Following her own ordeal four years ago, the Made In Chelsea star has joined forces with former MP Theo Clarke to campaign for the appointment of a maternity commissionerNarrating her post, Louise said: 'I didn't know birth could break you, women are leaving maternity care injured and silenced.'Some are living with pain that never goes away. Some lose their mental health, so don't feel safe in their bodies anymore.'And some babies don't survive. This isn't rare, this isn't unavoidable, this isn't acceptable in a country like ours.'We don't have a national maternity strategy, and we need one. We don't have one person accountable for protecting birthing parents and their babies, and we need one.'We don't even have a commissioner whose job it is to care. So I've started a petition, with Theo Clarke and the government has approved it.'And now it's on us, if this reaches 100,000 signatures, Parliament has to listen.'This could lead to a maternity commissioner, a real strategy, real accountability, and real change.'So if you've given birth, if you love someone who has, if you believe that women deserve to leave childbirth whole, then please sign here, please share this, please don't scroll past it. Louise, who was diagnosed with PTSD after the difficult birth of her son Leo in 2021, shared the videos from her experience on Instagram The star added that she's launched a petition asking for a maternity commissioner to be appointed, and urged her followers to sign it (pictured holding her son Leo as a baby) In her video, Louise told her followers that there needs to be 'a national maternity strategy' after speaking to other mothers who had endured similar experiences Narrating her post, Louise said: 'I didn't know birth could break you, women are leaving maternity care injured and silenced' Louise has previously shared that her injuries – which include developing Asherman's Syndrome and worsening bowel problems – means that she cannot carry another child'This is for all those that didn't make it, and for every parent who deserved better.'Captioning the post, Louise added: 'This is dedicated to all those who didn't survive and those who lost their babies.'Thank you to the 30,000 of you who have already signed our petition.'This number is significant because it's also the number of women who develop PTSD following childbirth every year. 'And I believe that we NEED a maternity commissioner in this country - because every woman deserves the right to a safe and dignified birth. 'It would be great to see our government enforce some of the 748 recommendations that have been made following various inquiries over the past decade.'I have to say I'm SO RELIEVED that so many of you care about women, our birth rights, and our babies. Especially at a time when we have people like Steven Bartlett blaming women for a declining population.'The time is now. I've been reading a brilliant book about tipping points this week and I think we are about to be the 'push' that nudges something major over the line. Please join me in that pursuit.'This issue can't keep getting sidelined in favour of other projects. Childbirth is the inception of life. What is more important than that. We need standardised care for all.'Next steps - We would love a conversation with our health minister Wes.'Louise and Theo set up the Birth Trauma All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) in the summer, and went on to lead the first national inquiry into birth trauma.In 2024, a damning report into the 'postcode lottery' of NHS maternity care ruled there is 'shockingly poor quality' in maternity services, claiming good care is 'the exception rather than the rule'. It heard evidence from more than 1,300 women, including new mothers who'd been left to lie in blood covered sheets for hours and even berated by midwives for having soiled themselves.One woman carrying twins who went into premature labour at 19 weeks was told by a consultant to 'stop stressing' after she lost her first baby. Another, dismissed as an 'anxious mother', later lost her baby from complications she warned about.The report found 'poor care is all frequently tolerated as normal, and women are treated as an inconvenience'.One woman carrying twins who went into premature labour at 19 weeks was told by a consultant to 'stop stressing' after she lost her first baby. Another, dismissed as an 'anxious mother', later lost her baby from complications she warned about.On Monday, Louise also spoke about the long-term impact her birth trauma has had on her, admitting it made her wary of being around other pregnant women.The star, who was diagnosed with PTSD in the wake of her ordeal, admitted she felt like a 'black cloud' when speaking to expectant mothers due to her own experience.She told The Times: 'If I was introduced to someone who was pregnant, I'd feel like I was a black cloud, that they'd be worried about being in my company, which is a silly thing to think.'There used to be a lot of shame talking about a bad birth because everybody thought that they should jump into parenthood joyful and grateful.' Louise previously detailed her traumatic childbirth at NHS Chelsea and Westminster hospital in her book Lucky: Learning to Live Again.In the book, she first recounted how she was repeatedly refused a C-section despite feeling she was too small at 5ft and with a 6ft 3 partner to give birth naturally.Doctors eventually ordered a C-section after it was found Leo's head was stuck in her pelvis.Unbeknown to her at the time this had actually tore her womb, leading to bleeding that was hard to stop and led to her losing three-and-a-half litres of blood, more than three quarters of the blood in the body. On Monday, Louise spoke about the long-term impact her trauma had on her and how it made her wary of being around other pregnant women (pictured with fiancé Ryan and son Leo)She said she could 'see immense amounts of my blood splattering all over the curtain' and 'splashing on to the floor below'.She added: 'No one gave us any reassurance; it was all like some sick nightmare.'Everyone in the room looked very distressed, I could feel their shaky hands on my body. If they'd allowed me to have a planned C-section, things could have been very different.'Earlier this year, Louise did share that she and fiancé Ryan Libbey are finally ready to have another child, but will undergo IVF and use a surrogate to expand their family. The Birth Trauma Association charity says an estimated 20,000 women a year develop post-natal post traumatic stress disorder, and that as many as 200,000 women may also feel traumatised by childbirth and develop some of the symptoms of PTSD.About 65 per cent of the NHS's budget to cover clinical negligence claims — which totalled £69.3billion in 2022-23 — related to maternity and neonatal liabilities.In early December, Baroness Amos published an interim report into England's maternity services which said that it was 'still struggling to provide safe, reliable maternity and neonatal care everywhere in the country'.
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