Louise Thompson praises partner Ryan Libbey as her ‘rock’ after traumatic birth

Louise Thompson has called her partner Ryan Libbey her “rock” and praised him for looking after her and their newborn son following her traumatic birth as she describes 2021 as the “hardest year of her life”.

The Made In Chelsea star, 31, revealed last week that she had suffered serious complications while giving birth to her son, Leo-Hunter, five weeks ago.

She shared a series of photos to social media of Libbey caring for baby Leo-Hunter and said he had to “witness things that no partner should ever have to”.

In a post to Instagram, Thompson wrote: “2021 has been the hardest year of my life by miles. And I really mean that. Miles.

“But there is someone in my life who will have found it equally as hard. This guy.

“He has had to witness things that no partner should ever have to.

“He has called ambulances. He has been inside (and outside) operating theatres for hours.

“He has had to bring up our son as a single parent for the first month+ of his life.

“He has slept on the hard floor of the hospital for a week. (I didn’t realise that he would sneak off to the chapel in the middle of the night to pray)… and that’s before things even got bad

“Then he had to come home and organise the entire house whilst looking after a newborn because it was still pretty much a building site.

“He has coordinated my whole family so that they could come and visit me and minimise the stress.

“He has had to look after me and the baby for the first few weeks of me arriving home because I haven’t been able to look after myself.”

The reality TV star listed further ways in which her partner has helped her including showering her, cooking, cleaning and bringing their newborn son to the hospital every day so she could bond with him while she was an inpatient.

She added: “He never complains.

“And he’s still doing the lion’s share of the work between the two of us.

“Ryan I commend you.

“I don’t know many men who would be able to handle this situation with such grace and fortitude.

“You are my rock and I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. 2022 better be our year!! I will do my best to be strong for u two.”

Ahead of Christmas, Thompson revealed to her followers that Leo-Hunter had been treated in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and she had been treated in the adult ICU after the birth.

She said she had suffered “various serious complications” and that she experienced a “dance with death twice” while in hospital.

On Christmas Day, she shared a heartfelt post in which she paid tribute to the NHS staff who “worked through the night to save my life”.

Thompson appeared in Made In Chelsea’s first series in 2011, progressing to become one of the E4 show’s main characters, while partner Ryan Libbey joined the cast in 2016 when the series was filming in the south of France.

The couple were engaged in 2018 after he proposed during a hiking trip in Los Angeles.