"Appalled..."

I gave birth to first baby over the weekend and although it is supposed to be a happy occasion, it was made unnecessarily stressful and very emotionally exhausting. I was shocked at the care I recieved from the midwives, who are there to support you and encourage you and look after your wellbeing as well as your baby's... my experience was nothing like that! I arrived at the hospital at around 4am, and the staff that were on duty told me 'man up' as I washaving cocontractions, they looked at me like I was a piece of dirt on their shoe and was more interested in finishing their own conversations than actually look after me! I was in a great deal of pain and I was left unattended for nearly an hour before being taken into the delivery room. Which there I was left yet again without being checked to see how far into labour I was, despite my partner going out and asking 4 times for pain relief! By the time a midwife finallychecked to see how dilated I was, I was 8cm and was too late for pain relief, I had to go through the labour with nothing. Luckily the midwife I had to deliver was actually very helpfuland kind, was the only highlight of the whole care experience. I was then taken to the maternity ward and I was pretty much left to it after being forced to stay in overnight so they could apparantly keep an eye on me, which no one did! When my daughter couldn't settle that night, I was tired, stressed and absolutely emotional and asked 3 times for assistance, to be told to go back in and try to calm down! My daughter didn't settle and I was up all night with her cause no one would help me. By the time themorning came I was a wreck and begged to go home, despite seeing how distressed I was, they kept me waiting and waiting when all they had to do was fill in my notes. Then called ne rude cause I got very angry and demanded to go home. After the whole ordeal I think it was understanding for me to be frustrated and positively fuming. Absolutely disgusting, never again. How half of them even have a job is beyond me.