"I left the hospital feeling very deflated"

I was in for a planned c-section. I was very anxious about the procedure however all the staff in the theatre were very kind,supportive and couldn’t be more helpful. Unfortunately  when I got to the ward after recovery it was very different. I was advised a midwife would be to see me shortly however went 4 hours before I saw any staff member. My baby was in their basket which I couldn’t reach and I eventually managed to flag a member of staff down ( which was 4 hours from when I arrived at ward) to help me get my baby as I could see my baby was needing fed and wanted to feed them before he got upset 

That evening I got my catheter removed and was later advised by a member of staff that I needed to try and pee as it had been a bit of time from when catheter had been removed. Unfortunately I had an problem with going to the toilet and had to be recatheterised also during this time my baby was unsettled and I was struggling with breast feeding. I felt pressured when trying to pass urine having staff ask me if I wanted to try formula, I really did want to give up the breast feeding but agreed to bottled formula to help settle my baby.  Unfortunately my baby was very unsettled through out the night. I was a new mum with no experience on what best to do and was very upset that I couldn’t settle my baby. I spent most of that night crying and didn’t see any member of staff. I felt very alone and was tired as I was up very early that morning anxious of the section but felt that because I had a section I was not as important. 

I know someone who had a baby about a month after me and was given the opportunity to have their baby taken to the nursery so she could have a rest which really upsets me as I had an unsettled baby and had no support.   

I also had the canula in hand becoming loose. I asked if it could be removed as didn’t like it so loose and worried it would come out itself, but was advised still needed to have it in and was just given tape to tape it up myself which didn’t help the problem

Thankfully there was a student midwife on the day shift the following day which discussed options with regards to breast feeding and helped me come to the decision to express as I was struggling to feed from the breast and also due to the fact my breast were so bruised. However due to business that day she didn’t get much time to see and help me and I never really saw any staff members most of the day. 

On my 3rd day I was finally able to go home however still struggling with expressing milk. I did have to say to a member of staff if someone could help me as I didn’t want to go home without being comfortable to be able to express 

I left the hospital feeling very deflated and uneducated with regards to my baby and this made me feel quite depressed, anxious and felt like this affected my relationship with my baby.