WORKING AS A COORDINATOR MIDWIFE IN A TERTIARY ...

woman in labour who had planned a home birth. The woman had been very
reluctant to transfer despite the midwives recommendation.
On one side we were engaging with LMC midwives who in some regards followed
quite a staunch homebirth philosophy and that was wonderful. On the other side a
junior registrar was on duty and an experienced consultant who was there as
back up, with an emotionally charged situation because the woman’s care had not
been managed according to hospital protocols and guidelines. This was the
consultant’s first kind of ‘boiling point’.
The pot boiled over completely at the birth when complications arose in the room
with the two LMC’s present and the consultant outside the door. The consultant
was called in to the room and I went in as well.
He examined the woman, there was fetal distress and we knew we had to caesar
which resulted in a more or less panic mode. It was all one big unknown. The
woman was very distressed.
As coordinator, one of my jobs was to immediately organize the caesarean
section, and the associated staffing requirements. But, at the same time I ended
up being right in the middle of a situation because the minute we walked out of
the room the consultant completely lost it. He was so angry, and vocal that his
emotions stopped him functioning. He was unable to walk down the corridor, get
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