Uitenhage Netcare Cuyler Hospital

My son was born at the Netcare Cuyler Hospital in Uitenhage on the 14th of December 2020.It was with no doubt the toughest year for all of us. With the birth of our son my husband was only allowed to come and see us after the baby was born and after that only visiting hours. As a first time mom I was scared to death knowing that my husband was not going to be by my side to support me through every step, but I reassured myself that the nurses would be there to assist and help me at all times, or so I thought. When I came into the hospital, they monitered my contractions, but after a while totally forgot about me while I was laying there, the nurse even said that in her own words. I went into labour and my contractions started slowly but surely, I started vomitting all over the place and I was just told to be calm and walk up and down the hallway, the nurse assisted me just once to help me walk up the hallway and after that she went to go and sit in their lunch/tea room watching TV. I walked up and down with unbairable pain begging them for some pain medication, but they responded no everytime with a very annoyef look and tone. They put me on a yoga ball to bounve on, showed me what to do once and then went back to watching TV again. While I screamed in pain they told me "please keep it down you cant go on like this in the hospital", at one stage I heard the once nurse talking to the other saying "oh this is going to be a long night for her" in a sarcastic tone. When I was 6cm dilated, they gave me a little bit of morphine and broke my water, they decided to call the doctor when I was already 8cm dilated, the doctor had to rush in as they phoned him way to late. When the doctor arrived he scolded them for not giving me enough pain meds and he had to rush to get my baby out. after the birth, the medication had worn off and I had a lot of pain as I had a tear, my husband had to ask them several times to give me some pain medicine. When the staff switched the next morning, I had a very friendly nurse, she was so helpful and sweet. The point I'm trying to make is that I know the staff was over worked, tired due to the covid times being hectic in the hospital, but surely the staff should have a little compassion in their hearts for a first time mother, scared to death and totally alone in an unknown situation she has never been in before, a moment she wished she could have shared with her husband and family, but she could not. I understand that nurses do this every day and it probably gets boring and routine after a while, but a little love, caring and compassion never hurt anybody. I am not usually the tipe of person to name and shame, but I feel that I need to get this off my chest as it has been a burden for almost 2 years now. I have sufferd from depression right after I had my son and I believe that the dreadfull events in the hospital played a big role in this. Cuyler hospital was top notch a few years ago (my mother was there with the birth of my broter), but the service has unfortunately degraded immensely. I hope that this post is seen by somebody who can help make a change and break this cycle where nurses do not care for their patients as they should. A hospital should be a safe place where patients should feel at home, I'm not saying that we should be pampered and spoiled, we just need to feel that you actually care for our well-being as fellow human beings