Louise Thompson's fiance reveals harrowing moment she was ‘ten minutes from death' haemorrhaging blood at home
In a raw and emotional interview on Giovanna Fletcher 's podcast, Ryan spoke about Louise's traumatic labour that lasted over 36 hours - a nightmare that saw Louise fighting for her life.
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The ordeal escalated into an emergency C-section that should have lasted 45 minutes but dragged on for almost four hours.
Louise was awake throughout, losing a huge amount of blood.
When Leo was born, he was in distress, suffering respiratory issues linked to meconium, a bowel obstruction in newborns.
But the nightmare didn't end at the hospital.
Weeks later, Louise suffered a haemorrhage at home that nearly killed her.
He said: 'I was in our bedroom. She was in the spare bedroom.
'And we'd done that because, well, one, there's extra stairs to climb to get to our bedroom, and she was not mobile.
'Two, I just wanted her to go into a space where she could just rest and not worry about the baby or how untidy the bedroom was—just go somewhere that's ready for you.
'So she was in there, and just the shriek, or the shout, or the scream—whatever best describes this—just pierced through my body.
'And I must have flown from one bedroom down the staircase to the other.
'And I would describe it as like a gunshot victim on the floor.
'I've never seen blood like it. Not even compared to the hospital. I've never seen it."
Ryan revealed their white bed sheets turned red while he was holding Leo, who was screaming.
He said: 'I can't actually remember where Leo is in this moment in time. I feel like he's in my arms. I think he was with me versus in the bed with Louise.
'So he's in my arms, tiny little thing screaming, and Louise is in this bed which is filled with blood and sort of…
'Louise herself described the blood loss as if 'someone had switched a hose on.'"
Ryan desperately tried to stop the bleeding with bath towels while holding their tiny son.
He called 999, fearing she wouldn't survive the next ten minutes.
He told them: ''If you don't get here in ten minutes, she's probably going to die, because the level of blood that I'm looking at is insane'.
'And these bath towels that I was trying to plug the bleed with quickly absorbed it and turned red.
'So I'm changing the towels. Louise is sort of slipping into this state of surrender, to be honest with… And then the ambulance did show up very quickly, actually.
Louise Thompson's Full Health Battle
THE Made in Chelsea alumni has always spoken candidly about her health - yet what does she suffer from?
Ulcerative Colitis
Louise was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis before becoming a mum.
It is a condition which causes the colon and rectum to become inflamed - with her new stoma bag "saving her life" after the debilitating battle
PTSD
The Pocket sportswear founder was frank when she opened up on her post-natal birth struggles.
She told how she had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in late 2022 following the birth of her son Leo.
It came after she nearly died twice in childbirth in December 2021.
Incurable Lupus
Back in 2022, Louise was diagnosed with incurable Lupus.
The autoimmune disease that occurs when your body's immune system attacks your tissues and organs.
Blood loss
In February 2024, it was revealed that she had once again been admitted to the hospital.
In the aftermath, Louise told how she had "survived a second time" after losing three litres of blood.
It came after the brave star haemorrhaged at home.
Thankfully, paramedics arrived quickly and saved her life — but this was just one of multiple life-threatening episodes.
Ryan also revealed Louise suffered a third major haemorrhage following a medical procedure months later.
He described returning home from work to find Louise being loaded into an ambulance amid a scene he called 'a murder scene' in their bathroom.
Ryan opened up about Louise's devastating battle with postpartum depression after the trauma.
He said: 'We even had a crisis-management team come very regularly, which—to be really honest with you—was a suicide watch because she was so mentally checked out.
'Which is absolutely terrifying, and I don't think I've quite processed that one. I think that was… that was something that I wanted to reframe straight away."
Louise has since proudly revealed she has had a lifesaving stoma bag fitted after a long health battle.
She has also been battling PTSD and anxiety since giving birth to Leo in 2021.
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