"Birthing experience"

I feel I was treated terribly at Angliss Hospital. I arrived at the hospital late in the evening having contractions 6 minutes apart. I explained that I wished to have an epidural for the birth of my baby in which I immediately got a negative vibe and lecture about how it may not be possible. A vaginal examination was done I was told I was only 3cm dilated and that I was not in labour and to go home by the nurse that attended to me. I told them I did not feel comfortable going home as, from my experience with my first child, I was in labour and the contractions I was having were very strong. They got very annoyed and told me that they couldn’t force me to leave but if someone who was in real labour came in I would be turfed out into the corridor because there were no beds left and women who are actually in labour need the room. I was very distressed and worried. I felt I was being bullied into leaving. We stayed in the room but it was very uncomfortable; I was not able to bring my hospital bag or make myself comfortable through my labour as it was made very clear we could be asked to leave at any time. Around 2 hours after arriving at the hospital, the nurse said okay I may as well admit you. In a way that made it sound like they were doing me a huge favour. I asked if another examination could be done as I was in terrible pain and my contractions had become almost unbearable. Around 3 hours after arrival the nurse did the examination and told me that there hadn’t been much change, that I was still around 3-4cm dilated, making me feel like I was overreacting. They then left the room and when they came back they said to me - I have called the anaesthetist for you because you're not coping very well so I thought I do that for you. I had a different nurse come in to put a cannula in and when they walked into the room they said - okay so this lady is 5cm dilated! I knew I was even more than 5cm, but the fact that they told me I was 3-4cm and just got caught made me angry. I was in so much pain with the labour, I couldn’t focus my energy on that at that point. My baby was born around 4 hours after I first arrived at the hospital, with no epidural in what was the most stressful upsetting labour I ever could have imagined. None of the interventions I wanted to put in place were carried out. I was so upset at the way I had been spoken to and treated.