Entertainment
Made In Chelsea star Louise Thompson on her pregnancy journey, mum-shamers and being wary of posting on social media: ‘You can do no right’
Louise Thompson opened up about being wary on social media (Picture: Instagram)
Louise Thompson has already come up against mum-shamers on social media, and she hasn’t even given birth yet.
The Made In Chelsea star is pregnant with her first child, with fiancé Ryan Libbey, confirming their happy news on Instagram along with a glimpse at her baby scan and some adorably tiny trainers.
While the 32-year-old has shared much of her life on screen, including her stint on the E4 reality series, she has become more thoughtful of keeping some things out of the public eye and behind closed doors in recent years.
Chatting to Metro.co.uk to promote the Petplan Awards, for which she is an ambassador, the mum-to-be opened up about messages she had already been receiving from followers.
When asked if she was wary of posting certain things on social media in terms of her pregnancy, she told us: ‘Yeah, I think at the beginning especially. I didn’t announce it at the 12 week mark, I waited a little bit longer because I was still a bit worried that something bad would happen, or that I would have a miscarriage.
‘Then I thought, actually this is such a big part of my life, I can’t hide it anymore anyway because I’m growing quite quickly, I’m so short so it was showing quite obviously.
’It’s funny, loads of people would say to me, “The best advice that I can give you is, don’t take advice from anybody at all.” So don’t listen to anything that anyone says because everyone’s going to have conflicting opinions.
‘But then those exact same people that told me those words, a couple of weeks later would say, “Oh my God, you cannot have a runny egg!”’
Louise continued: ‘I think I have become a lot more cautious with what I share. I still share a lot. I really like a bath and people are quite conflicted on whether that’s a good idea.
‘I do make a specific effort to show [fans] like if I’m having a bath, I’ll have to video the thermometer to make sure that people are aware that I am responsible enough to take the temperature of the bath. It’s a bit of a minefield out there and you can do no right.
‘I think I still have those slight moments which are tough because I’m not on the final homestretch yet, so nothing is for certain. But that’s the thing about pregnancy, is that nothing is ever for certain. You just don’t know until the end.’
Louise is getting ready to give birth to her first child, and is just over the halfway mark at around 22 weeks.
Lifting the lid on her pregnancy journey so far, she explained that the first few months were ‘quite tough’ and she had to visit hospital recently, but insisted that she’s in a much better place now.
‘Time is really racing along, I shouldn’t wish time away especially as it’s the summer and it’s a really nice time to be pregnant. But the first three months were really quite tough, much tougher than I ever expected,’ she said.
‘Then I went into the 15-17 week high and felt amazing. Every few weeks I’ll have a little panic, just about something. Actually, I was a bit unwell a week or so ago. I popped into hospital, but I’m so lucky the Chelsea and Westminster is around the corner from my house, and they are so incredible there.
‘The team there are great and they look after the pregnant ladies really well.’
Although she is in the full swing of preparing for the next stage in her life, Louise joked that there was one aspect that she hadn’t even considered would change – her wardrobe.
Yes, seriously.
‘Things come in waves with the hormones. I’m feeling pretty settled, which is nice,’ she said. ‘I’ve now really accepted the fact that I can’t really exercise, and I can’t definitely can’t wear any of the clothes that I was wearing before, which is not something I ever thought about!
‘Despite the fact that we’ve wanted to have children for such a long time, and struggled a bit to get to where we are today, I hadn’t thought about the really basic dilemmas that you face every day as a pregnant woman.
‘I thought when people would speak about it, that it’s hard to bend down and that your hips are sore, I just thought those people were being really sensitive. Turns out they’re not! I’m actually the sensitive one.’
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As well as the new arrival, proud dog owner Louise is also excited for the upcoming Petplan Awards, taking place next month – with nominations open until August 6.
She added: ‘The Petplan pet awards are great because it celebrates how important pets are and it’s a bit of fun. They’re really positive awards, anyone can enter it’s free to enter. There’s different categories which is quite fun, there’s a category for bravery, resilience, also pets that found new homes through adoption, and lots of fun other things.
‘It’s a nice way to reward pets and give back to them but also owners who put in a big shift.’
Fingers crossed that her adorable pups, Koji and Toto, get some recognition!
Pet owners will be able to nominate their pet for an award on the Petplan website until August 6, with winners announced in the week of August 30.
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