'This has affected him worse than it has affected me': Louise Thompson says she is freezing her eggs whilst she and Ryan Libbey work on their mental health before trying for another baby with a surrogate

Louise Thompson has said she is freezing her eggs whilst she and her partner Ryan Libbey work on their mental health before trying for another baby with a surrogate.

The TV personality, 35, has been documenting her experience on social media after revealing her plans to expand her family, after almost dying while giving birth to her son Leo in 2021 following an emergency caesarean.

Louise has previously told her followers that she is unable to to carry her own child again due to complications from the birth of her son Leo, four, but late last year, opened up about how she hopes to have another baby in 2026.

Earlier this week said she was so far finding it 'demoralising' before sharing an IVF update as she confirmed her plans to use a surrogate and opened up about struggling with only having four fertilised eggs.

Now speaking on Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast, which will be released in full on Monday, she told how she has decided to 'freeze her fertility' and said the journey to having another baby has hit Ryan the hardest.

She said in a teaser clip of the episode posted to socials on Sunday: 'My partner and I feel like we would like to give Leo a sibling because we are really close with our siblings. I have been left with some fertility.

'It's not going to be an easy journey. I have decided to try and freeze some fertility while we continue to work on our mental space.

'This has affected Ryan almost worse than it has affected me especially when it comes to growing our family. For him he thinks 'why would we risk anything?'.

'We're so lucky because I survived, I'm here and I do have a good standard of living, I've also got the most amazing child, he's so beautiful. But growing our family is our legacy and our right. 

'I should have been given the right to a safe and dignified birth which would have allowed me to leave procreation to chance where I could have sex with my partner and maybe have another baby.

'We're not alone in this infertility journey, our chances are just really different due to the scarring I've been left with.'

After Leo's birth Louise went on to suffer with PTSD and post-natal anxiety due to her near-death experience and has since been diagnosed with Lupus, Asherman's syndrome, suffered a second Hemorrhage, and has also had a stoma bag fitted.

After revealing she wants to expand her family she has been keeping people up to date. 

Earlier this week she shared another update with her fans via TikTok, sharing the latest on her journey which has involved speaking to lawyers about surrogacy.

She said: 'What a day! From the news this morning that we only had four fertilised eggs out of 20 on day one that felt really heartbreaking to an appointment with a bank in Chelsea super dooper early to sort mortgage stuff, then jumping on a call with a brand to discuss a petite collection I'm bringing out.

'Which is bringing joy to me, but even mentioning family expansion on all these calls when I know that I'm harbouring the truth of the fact that it's going to be so much harder for us than people might even envisage on the outside. Why would we have infertility?

'Obviously uterus poses a huge problem but, there's no reason why a 35-year-old with a high AMH and a partner who is practically the cover of Men's Health why we should be having an issues. Trying to hold onto the good and the positive is sometimes hard.'

Louise then addressed an issue she has with blinking, which is related to her ongoing recovery from her severe health complications.

She said: 'I think my blinking is back, which I really didn't want. Because we are shooting promo for something. Maybe the podcast is coming back. But I really wanted to come into it with a calm nervous system.'

Later in the video, Louise discussed the option for who will carry her baby if the IVF is successful, saying: 'Lawyers are involved, so if you haven't guessed that involves someone who will be carrying, so that means having conversations with people.'

Revealing she isn't feeling as positive as she hoped, Louise said: 'I thought by this point I'd feel a lot better. And now I'm taking these calls and I don't even know what the outcome is going to be.'

'And what the lag Is going to be, whether we have to keep doing more cycles or where we're going to be.  

'There's a link I've been sent to watch the embryos and I don't even know what I'm looking at, even though I'm obsessive about stats and details and data and I'm smart and I love numbers and fucking stuff. 

'It's just mad, I can't problem solve my way out of this one.'

Describing her struggle, she said: 'I don't have the bandwidth, well I do, but I don't have two hours to work this out and obsess over it. 

'Which is probably a good thing and I said to the lovely girls today who I was working with, who kindly bought me mini eggs that I devoured in half an hour and some colourful bunches of cheap and cheerful tulips, which I love.

'I haven't been able to work and then also focus on this, I said maybe the reason I didn't mind about my last cycle doing it was because it was a first but also with work the fertility thing doesn't become my everything. And that thing you want so badly that you can't have,

'So maybe I need to just keep being really active on here and doing my work things and writing things. I think I'm back in a place where I'm going to have to lean on those little nuggets of joy to keep me going.'

It came after Louise broke down in tears on Monday as she shared the 'rawness' of her IVF journey after receiving 'hugely disappointing' news. 

The former Made In Chelsea star said she felt 'demoralised' as she discussed her egg retrieval with fans. 

She said: 'In the interest of being honest, I feel f***ing s***.

'So I just had a call with the embryologist and I was really hoping for better news than this, as we had 20 eggs retrieved yesterday and I felt like my body was doing all the right things and I felt so hormonally ready, really felt like my body was growing and we got 20.

'I felt really optimistic yesterday and now I've just got off this call and they've said only 10 will mature which is hugely disappointing because that cuts it in half and then I wonder how.... 

'Then of the 10 they have split them into two groups and they were going to add this AOA, egg activation process on half of them, so on five and not on the other five and only two fertilised from each group. 

'So only four have fertilised and that is day one and we have to get through to day five. So from 20 eggs on day one, we now have four, four that have fertilised.'

Louise said she felt 'so rank' as she wiped away tears while being honest with fans in the video. 

She continued: 'And last time I did it I only got eight eggs retrieved but all eight fertilised on day one, so I'm just looking at the statistics if we only have f***ing four on day one, so what we are going to have half an embryo now. 

'I feel so demoralised now and so rank. Apparently six that were immature they have been keeping an eye on and have matured and grown so they are going to try and fertilise those today. 

'God, I just want to lie in a room instead of actually doing my proper work.'

However, despite the disappointing news, Louise shared in the caption that since filming the video thing have 'picked up a bit' and the couple have recieved some 'more positive news'. 

She wrote: 'This is what the rawness of IVF can look like. I don't know whether this was rational or hormonal?

'I'm pleased to say that things have picked up a bit since and we have had some more positive news.'

It came after Louise said 'all she can see is embryos dancing around' and admitted she's 'obsessing' after completing her first IVF cycle in the hope of expanding her family.

Louise said she was 'exhausted' following her first IVF cycle as she shared a gallery of photos of herself, son Leo and partner Ryan

She wrote: 'What a start to the year. I'm exhausted even putting this post together. Probably why I've put off uploading anything for over a week.

'When I shut my eyes w/ the 'hormonal crash' all I can see is embryos dancing around.

'I really think that dancing is the answer to all my problems, but if only my embryos could dance as well as me… and Leo.'

Listing the things she has been up to over the last few days, Louise said she has 'managed an IVF cycle, obsessed over cell division, fragmentation, compaction and had an overnight hospital stint with Leo with Scarlett fever'.

The reality star recently said she is feeling 'disgusting and sore' after starting her journey with IVF.

Giving an update on TikTok, she explained: 'I have had a really rank 24 hours and I don't want to wax lyrical about it because I'm aware that I've had a complicated week.

'I've had a complicated four years and I really don't want to hear all the negativity.'

The former Made In Chelsea star continued: 'Tonight is trigger night. I had another scan today at the clinic and I'm gonna have the eggs retrieved on Tuesday morning, which feels really exciting.

'I'm so relieved. I'm ready to get these puppies out of my body. I feel like a brick s**t house. I feel disgusting, I feel heavy, I feel sore and I've had a fever for 24 hours.

'I didn't tell anyone in the clinic that I've had a fever because I do not want to cancel this cycle, I just couldn't think of anything worse than having to start this whole process again.

'My twitch is back, it's all going on. I didn't get any sleep last night. I also have this really weird thing where I just don't love taking medication.

'I'm fine taking all these injections and stuff because it's prescribed and I know why I'm taking them.

'I don't love taking medication if I don't have to, so I didn't know whether I was allowed to take any paracetamol during this IVF cycle or whether it was going to affect the egg quality, so I didn't and I suffered all night shivering in so much pain, like agony.

'It was so triggering. I'd wake up every 20 minutes and feel like I was back in the hospital following recovery from surgery. Awful.'

'This morning, I was like, maybe I could have a little bit of Calpol because if it's good enough for Leo then it's good enough for me, and maybe I'll just micro dose a baby's Calpol and get a tiny insignificant amount of paracetamol from that, so I did that – it made a smidgen of a difference.'

Adding that she was since feeling better, Louise continued: 'I feel a lot better now that I have had some paracetamol, which has brought the temperature down. I've had some reassurance from the scan.

'I felt like I was being slightly neurotic yesterday, wanting answers and to try to control anything that I could around this whole crazy situation, but now I just feel really relieved that there's a timeline and a plan.

'It's not that ideal that I have to take the trigger shots at 10pm because normally I'd be asleep now, so I'm like, do I go to sleep and then set an alarm and then wake up really disorientated and then panic about having to get these syringe bits?

'This is apparently the most important thing – the timing of the trigger shots and also the volume.

'And then in the morning, which actually I didn't do when I did a cycle last time, I am gonna take an ovulation test to make sure that the LH [Luteinizing Hormone] is spiking to show that my pituitary has responded to this medication. And then we know that we're all on track to get some eggy weggs.'

Ahead of the new year, Louise shared that she is hoping to 'expand her family' this year after she and partner Ryan are 'finally feeling ready' to welcome another child.

The TV personality admitted she is 'afraid' of the couple's 'complicated' journey ahead after previously stating she is likely unable to carry another baby due to severe health complications from her traumatic first birth.

Louise also shared that she is ready to share her journey and opened up about a miscarriage she suffered in 2020 before welcoming son Leo.