Made In Chelsea reality star Louise Thompson gave birth to her first child in 2021.
But this happy moment quickly descended into a nightmare when Thompson suffered a haemorrhage after an emergency C-section.
Thompson says she wasn't put to sleep with anaesthetic while being treated at the hospital and remembers watching herself "almost bleed to death".
Thompson was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I lost, I think over a year's period, 12 and a half litres of blood which is, you know, three times my body, and I was very sick and I came very close to dying," she recalled during an appearance on Loose Women in September 2024.
"I was witnessing myself bleed to death. I wish I was put asleep. It was one of the things I questioned in my birth debrief to try and get some answers… that was very difficult," she said.
"I will never be mentally strong enough to carry another child, I have Asherman's syndrome where my uterus is glued together."
Thompson has been outspoken about her health issues since giving birth to her son, including the traumatic experience of the delivery itself and the ongoing challenges including haemorrhages, the removal of her colon, fitting of a stoma bag and a series of physical and mental health conditions.
She has also spoken about the challenges she experienced when it came to her son, Leo, as a result.
Following the birth, Thompson recalled it taking six months for her to start bonding with Leo, given she could only focus on "trying to stay alive" at the time.
"For the first six months I had to focus on living. I had incredibly bad PTSD and anxiety," Thompson said on Elizabeth Day's How To Fail podcast.
But Thompson's health struggles did not end there.
In April 2024, Thompson shared that she had undergone surgery to have a stoma bag fitted, following years of battling ulcerative colitis, which she was diagnosed with in 2018.
Watch Thompson's video revealing her stoma. Article continues after video.
She said while it wasn't exactly a "glamorous announcement", it wasn't something she wanted to have hide forever.
"It's not exactly exciting like a big pregnancy or gender reveal announcement! Hey look, I'm having a boy… Hey look, I've got a stoma!" she shared on her Instagram.
Since then, Thompson has been very open about her experience with a stoma.
"I'd never been on a boat with a stoma before," she wrote on Instagram in July, posting a series of photos from a day out.
In the caption of the post, she candidly spoke about her first experience and a close-call on a leak from her bag. She even asked others who had gone through something similar for advice on preparing for these situations.
In November, Thompson sadly suffered another health scare when she was rushed into emergency surgery and went into septic shock.
During an episode of their podcast He Said, She Said, Thompson's fiance, Ryan Gibbey recalled returning home from a weekend away to find Thompson "rolling around in heaps of pain."
They immediately rushed Thompson into hospital where she was taken into surgery for "the same tummy area that she's been recovering from since earlier this year with her stoma surgery."
Following the surgery, Thompson experienced a series of complications, including going into septic shock.
"I don't know how much more she can take," Gibbey said on his podcast.
Gibbey assured listeners that while the ordeal was terrifying, Thompson was slowly recovering in the intensive care unit.
"I really hate to say it but I've been back in hospital feeling very poorly (I feel like the word 'poorly' warrants the label of an Onomatopoeia - everything about it resembles elderly, frail illnessy stuff)," Thompson shared.
"I'm almost embarrassed at this point. BUT there is light. Despite the surgery, the butt drain, the catheter, the stoma, the robinsons drains, dreaded pigtail drain, copious cannulas, blood tests galore…
"My poor poor bod. I've felt like a bit of a zombie. But there have been beacons of kindness EVERYWHERE."
Now Thompson has shared the happy news that she would be well enough to spend Leo's third birthday with him.
"Tomorrow you turn 3. Wow. And I get to spend it with you. Double wow. I know what's on the top of my gratitude list."
Feature image: Instagram/louise.thompson.
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