"Poor birthing experience at the Queen Elizabeth Gateshead"

Like someone else who wrote here , my birthing experience was a nightmare at the QE. It was a year ago and I wrote a letter that was responded to, but it was extremely traumatic and affected me greatly for a good couple of months after the birth. My waters broke at 4am on the Friday morning. I went to the hospital at 5am and was in extreme pain, to the point where I couldn't walk. A midwife told me I was only 2cm and either I or my husband had to go home. She also performed an internal during a contraction. She was 8 months pregnant herself but in my opinion was really nasty and unsympathetic; she and another midwife stood and chatted about what to do with me whilst both me and my husband were still in the room - it was like we weren't even there. She told me I'd be in labour for days, as I was still only 2cm. Eventually I let my husband go home and they shipped me off to an antenatal ward and left me writhing in a bed. An hour later a midwife happened to hear me and discovered I was 8cm dilated. My husband was called and came immediately, and my daughter was born a couple of hours later. The treatment was like nothing I had expected. I still don't get why they made him go home; it was the loneliest experience of my life. I am pregnant again and am considering other hospitals in the area. I will say that the midwives who delivered my daughter were terrific, but the hospital policy on sending fathers home because I'm 1cm away from being in 'established' labour is crazy.