Saying Goodbye and hello

Saying goodbye

So my friends and family are all calling or emailing to say goodbye, have fun and work hard. 

I have a large community. My family, Charlie, my husband, my son Brian, daughter Meg, and my Mom and sister, Donna and Mary, and my mother inlaw Judy, have had almost daily updates. It will be hardest to say goodbye to them. They have supported me through my midwifery journey for many years. In the case of my son and daughter, their whole lives have been lived to the mantra, "we can unless I have a birth"

I love them all and will miss seeing them and talking to them everyday. 

I also have my Charquin family, those friends made when my children were in elementary school, and it consists of both an immediate and extended family. At Charquin, we valued alternative education, and different learning styles. Well you can't get much more alternative than midwifery education. So I will think of all of you and the days and days we sorted rocks together as I am learning a new language, new skills, and a new culture. 

I also have my birthing community, it is big, the families I have supported, the Doulas I have worked with and the midwifery community that has welcomed me. I will have some amazing birth stories when I come home. 

saying hello

Today I added a new member to my community, a new student midwife, she is considering going to my school, Midwives College of Utah, and I was able to tell her what I love about it. I also was able to steer her toward finding connections in the birth community. 

In Bali, I already have tow dates to meet up with friends one a friend from an international doula group and the other a grandma of one of the baby's whose birth I attended. I have an email out to another midwife who lives in Bali that I met on line and I hope to get to see her too. 

Community is really important to me. I am glad that the relationships I have grown at home will be with me throughout my journey. 

treesa

PACKING

Today I packed. 

I am leaving for bali on Thursday night, traveling first to Hong Kong for two days, and then on to the birth center in asia . I know I will be on call for births, work in the prenatal, pediatric and accupuncture clinic. 

I am traveling with Singapore Air and I can take two suitcases, but I have had so many donations that I am unsure I can fit everything I will need into two suitcases. 

I have dozens of baby blankets, hand made by Holly and Dorothy and my mom. I have herbal tinctures from Pam at Herblore, B/P cuffs from spike and Dr. M. Friends have donated baby clothes, and medical supplies, money so I could buy more medical supplies, ( stethascopes, and oxygen tubing). Gloves, and speculums, and ictometer and dee lee mucus traps. 

and more and more and more

Thank you all, patty, rosanna, leslie, maria, the whites, laura, ron, rose, gail and rigs, deanna, and jennifer,louis, and martin (whose gamelan played for us), elizabeth, joanne, margaret, patricia, patricia, donna, carl, elizabeth, stacy (and girls), constance, valerie, ken, derek and marianna, irene, kathi and kevin, eliana and josh, suzanne, major, susannah,  donye and catherine and dennis, kiley, robin and ian, roxanne and all of the babies.

I am so lucky to be surrounded by such a generous and loving community. 

HI,

I am Treesa Mclean, I have been a birth and postpartum Doula for over 20 years and am currently a student midwife enrolled in the Midwives College of Utah, and working with my preceptor, Rosanna Davis, LM, CPM in Menlo Park, California.

I am off to Bali in 2009 to participate in a Midwifery Internship. 

I was drawn to participating in Midwifery abroad, both because it offers me the opportunity to work in a free clinic, and to learn about birth in an entirely different culture. 

I am so excited to be to accepted  in baliand to travel there. I will be taking medical and midwifery supplies with me to Bali when I go. Before I leave I will be collecting supplies and fundraising for the clinic. 

 On the links page there are links to a wide variety of midwifery organizations,  my college and the practice with which  I currently work. 

Whether you are a pregnant woman, family of a birthing mother, new parent or  birth professional consider supporting these organizations as way of supporting your local midwife and the larger American and International Midwifery community.

Treesa