Louise Thompson became emotional during a conversation with her fiancé, Ryan Libbey, as she explained her decision to forgo adoption in favour of pursuing IVF and surrogacy.
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The TV personality and personal trainer, both 35, recently revealed their plans to expand their family, after Louise almost dying while giving birth to her son Leo in 2021 following an emergency caesarean.
After Leo's birth, she 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 haemorrhage, and has also had a stoma bag fitted.
The couple are now embarking on IVF and plan to use a surrogate to add to their family.
In a new episode of their He Said, She Said podcast, Louise opened up on why they decided to not adopt.
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She said: 'I think with every couple they are within their right to want to have a child using their own DNA.
Louise Thompson became emotional during a conversation with her fiancé, Ryan Libbey, as she explained her decision to forgo adoption in favour of pursuing IVF and surrogacy
The couple recently revealed their plans to expand her family through IVF and surrogate
'It's not something I expect everyone to understand, but until you've had fertility issues of your own, I don't think people should be commenting on it.
'There are people that have had ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, cervical cancer, young, that have been lucky enough to freeze their fertility before they have to go through really f***ing aggressive cancer treatment.
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'I can't understand a person that will sit there and say that person should just adopt.'
Ryan said: 'If people have space in their hearts to open up to someone that's not necessarily biologically theirs, if they've got the capacity and skills to do that, that is nothing short of a miracle.'
Tearing up, Louise said: 'It makes me feel emotional. I genuinely think that adoption is the most beautiful thing in the world.'
'Could you do it?' Ryan asked.
Louise continued: 'It would take a lot. Like it would take a lot to get to a place where I could do it.
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'I know it would feel like the most amazing privilege in the world. But we've been through too much of our own trauma.
In a new episode of their He Said, She Said podcast, Louise opened up on why they decided to not adopt
She said: 'It's not something I expect everyone to understand, but until you've had fertility issues of your own, I don't think people should be commenting on it'
Ryan said: 'If people have space in their hearts to open up to someone that's not necessarily biologically theirs, if they've got the capacity and skills to do that, that is nothing short of a miracle'
'So I don't think we are best placed to be those people, right now. Who knows where we will be in 5/10 years. We know first hand that you can't predict the future. We'll see.'
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Taking to Instagram earlier this month, Louise shared an update on her fertility journey as she announced herself and Ryan have one embryo 'in the freezer' after undergoing IVF.
Sharing the news, Louise posted a picture of a bouquet of flowers Ryan gave her with the message: 'You did it. One in the freezer for safe keeps x.'
She captioned the picture: 'One in the freezer for safe keepy's. ✨ Inside that sentence is a universe. If you've listened to the latest episode of our podcast then you might already know what this stands for.
'For those of you that haven't - Ryan isn't always comfortable communicating about this fertility stuff at home… sometimes he'll even threaten that it's too much for him to handle, but this bunch of flowers was all I needed to reassure me that we're reading from the same hymn sheet. And he is VERY good at using words when it's really needed.
'This was NEEDED. You can imagine how much this bunch of flowers meant to me… even when exchanged in silence at the end of a very long grey working day.'
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The TV personality has documented her experience after revealing her plans to expand her family, after almost dying while giving birth to her son Leo in 2021
Taking to Instagram on earlier this month , Louise shared an update on her fertility journey as she announced herself and Ryan have one embryo 'in the freezer' after undergoing IVF
Louise continued: 'In truth those words hold years of planning, weeks of needles (years including the biologic-jak inhabitor-biologic switch), scans, waiting rooms, clenched jaws, forced optimism, and tears, lots of tears.
'It's the kind of bravery nobody gives you a medal for - and why would they because we're chosen to pay to go through this process when we could just… not. We could just accept the cards we've been dealt. But I don't want our past trauma to dictate our future.
'For those who know this road well, it needs no explanation. Staring at wee sticks. Counting follicles like prayer beads. Tracking bloods meticulously. Learning a whole new language in the hope that it will help us edge closer to our goal.
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'By educating I thought I could control the outcome. But this isn't predictable like other areas of my life. There is no playbook.'
Detailing their IVF journey, Louise added: 'From our first cycle we went from seeing 20+ gooood looking follicles on the scan, to getting 8 eggs retrieved to holding onto hope that many of them would make it to day 5.
'I did a lot of research and looked at many many stats for people in a similar situation to me (and us), but every case is SO individual and we ended up with just one. One embryo. One possibility. Not the perfect outcome. Especially with an amh averaging 25.
'It makes me wonder if something else is wrong. Not enough to say "we're done". But a chapter where something worked. And that feels like an ok place to start. So we're letting ourselves process that.
'One in the freezer. One in our hearts x.'
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