"Husband restricted by visiting times after the birth of our baby"

When I was pregnant I had a pelvic problem, the midwife before the birth was great. I was 9 days overdue and in agony so I went to the hospital to be induced.

I waited 5 hours to be induced and by the time they began the process it was the end of visiting hours and my husband had to leave so I was left in labour on my own.

The midwife gave me a shot to help me sleep without explaining that is was diamorphine which meant that I was unable to have it during labour. I was left on my own a lot and when the some of the nurses came in to check on me they read my magazines. I was told to walk around and take a bath but I could not do either of these as I was in so much pain because of my pelvic floor disorder.

When I was in labour the midwife was great but they did not tell me that they had put an emergency paediatric alert on my baby because I had been put on codeine whilst pregnant and my baby may have had withdrawals from the pain killer. I had actually stopped taking the codeine before the birth as it stopped being effective.

After the birth my partner was still only allowed on the ward at certain times. I realise they couldn't just have open visiting but I don't see why they cannot have a bay where partners can stay. I couldn't move after the birth and I had to get strangers to pass my baby to me as my partner wasn't there. It seems that the hospital was trying to push bonding with your baby, 'breast is best' etc but my husband, who was a much a part of it as me, was restricted by visiting times.