"Giving birth for the first time"

I recently gave birth for the first time at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow. Whilst I had a straight forward birth and every medical professional I dealt with in the run up to and during my labour were amazing, I just have a couple of negatives to share in the hope it could bring about some potential change for others.

I gave birth in the evening meaning that it was 12 at night before I was ready to be taken down to the ward from the maternity suite. Due to the time I was told my husband was unable to come down to the ward with me, understandable, however looking back I wondered if it would've been possible to give us a separate room if just for the night or next couple of hours to help me settle and get ready for the first night alone with my baby.

My husband had to leave and I was wheeled down to the ward in tears. Conscious not to disturb all of the women round about me in the ward with their new babies, I was quickly shown to my cubicle and left by the midwives. I had stitching from tearing and a catheter bag fitted so as well as being in terrible pain and still bleeding a lot, I struggled to get out of the bed once I was helped into it. I could not unpack my hospital bag as I couldn't reach it and was scared to make noise incase I disturbed those round about me, so I never got any of my babies nappies, wipes or clothes out until much later in the morning when my husband was able to come and visit and help me with this.

The buzzer for calling for help was above my bed out of reach and with the pain I was in there was no chance of me reaching it to ask for help. Being a first-time mum and also staying in hospital for the first time, my husband having to leave so abruptly and me struggling to get out of bed to empty my catheter bag and change my maternity pads, or up to tend to my baby when he needed me felt quite distressing.

Looking back, I feel that if possible and available, my experience would've been so much better had I been allowed to stay in a room of my own just to allow my husband to help support me for a few more hours provided i has just given birth 2 hours earlier and to minimise the disturbance to the others in the shared ward.

Overall I couldn't fault the staff who were so helpful, but just wanted to share my experience as I feel it was slightly tainted due to the mentioned above.