WORKING AS A COORDINATOR MIDWIFE IN A TERTIARY ...

shoes and a gown on and be ready for surgery, because he was wasting all his
energy expressing his anger which was not helpful.
In that situation of being stuck in the middle between the consultant and the
midwives, my first role then became that of a scout leader or something. I had to
say to the consultant “this is not the right time to spend any energy on your anger
and frustration”. Although I had my own thoughts about the situation I said to
him “ I can understand you” because my primary issue was how I was going to
calm him down fast enough to get him to theatre to do his job.
In that position I had to get on his side and say: “Look, I understand you, but now
is the wrong time to get angry. Get moving, get down there, we will bring the
woman down, we will be quick, don’t worry”. I had to be a peacemaker and a
negotiator to try to bring him back to earth. I went into theatre, the baby came
out flat and I knew that the consultant was still really angry and holding back so
much.
Both midwives had come into theatre as well. The baby had to be resuscitated
and the neonatal team was looking after the baby. In the meantime the consultant
was suturing. One of the midwives who was coming from a spiritual perspective
started making this kind of encouraging, almost chanting communication to the
baby, encouraging the baby to start breathing and empowering the mother to
encourage the baby to breath. I reflected on the midwives chanting and thought “I
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