Patient rights

The only time I’ve stayed overnight in the hospital was to have my baby. The nurse that checked me into my room first told me she was really nervous doing my IV. I don’t like needles so that was not comforting. She ended up sticking the needle in the side of my thumb and it kept pinching and my hand got badly swollen several times. I mentioned it to other nurses but they all acted like it was in and they couldn’t move it. When I finally had the baby and moved to a different floor a nurse there took 2 seconds and moved it from my thumb to the back of my hand.

The other thing this first nurse did was lose the cytotec. She was inserting it and said oh I can’t feel it anymore - I don’t know if its even in there. I was like what the hell? I didn’t want to be rude but I was seriously not impressed.

So my question is. Could I have asked for a different nurse? And how do I go about doing that if it’s a possibility?

I’m trying to be a better advocate for myself with this pregnancy/delivery but I’m still so unsure about the whole process.