WORKING AS A COORDINATOR MIDWIFE IN A TERTIARY ...

normal deliveries and nothing bad has happened or if it has, if there has been an
emergency, its been dealt with well; that’s a good day.
Everybody needs good days. In tertiary delivery suites every day is unpredictable. Irene
spoke about the need to look at the positives and here, Alice describes the positives that
help to make her feel good. Her description of good days is when there is normal birthing
and she evokes a sense that babies have just ‘fallen out’ with ease in her workplace where
women often require intervention and assistance for birthing. Her good days are when
births are midwifery led in the absence of obstetric intervention, midwives and colleagues
have time for each other, there is nurturing, caring, teamwork and fluidity in the day and
an absence of undue tension.
Coordinators can rejoice in the good days and need these days as their balance; however
the stories in this study will reveal mostly the tensions and challenges of the job and the
skills these coordinators bring to their roles as leaders.
In the Eye of the Storm
Coordinators know they are working in a high risk environment with the unexpected
often revealing itself with no warning within their complex working environment. The
analogy of being in the centre of a storm may conjure a variety of images to the reader.
Storms are unavoidable parts of life experiences to which we each react differently. Some
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