Louise Thompson achieved a significant milestone in her campaign for improved maternity care on Wednesday, delivering a petition with over 167,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street. The campaign, spurred by Thompson's own near-fatal childbirth experience in 2021, advocates for the appointment of a maternity commissioner.
Thompson, who nearly died during the emergency cesarean birth of her son Leo, has since been diagnosed with several health conditions including Lupus and Asherman's syndrome, and has experienced hemorrhages and used a stoma bag. These personal health struggles have fueled her advocacy for better maternity services in the UK.
Last week, Baroness Amos's report on maternity and neonatal services formally recommended the appointment of a maternity commissioner, a development Thompson described as a "historic moment." She emphasized that this role would be the first statutory maternal maternity and neonatal commissioner, tasked with advising the health secretary.
Upon delivering the petition, which included personal letters from other affected families, Thompson stated her commitment to continuing the push for a deadline for the commissioner's appointment. Sharing a video of the event on Instagram, she expressed a "huge release of emotion" after months of work, describing the experience as waking from a "haze" and processing "centuries worth of trauma."
Thompson recounted her traumatic birth experience, noting she was initially denied an elective C-section and recommended a home birth despite concerns about her and her baby's size. During labor, her son was unable to fit through her pelvis, necessitating an emergency C-section. Complications during the surgery led to a hemorrhage where she lost 75% of her blood. She experienced further hemorrhages, sepsis, and pneumonia in the weeks following, impacting her ability to bond with her newborn son.
She explained on her podcast "He Said, She Said" with partner Ryan Libbey that the trauma from her birth left her only able to spend brief periods with Leo in the months after his birth, finding his crying triggering and sending her into a dissociative state. Thompson stated she felt she was in a "huge haze" for months and that her recovery, which involved spending hours outside alone, felt like an experience of "what death looked like."