31 Oct Goodbye Melanie!

After over a year of working together, we are sadly saying goodbye to Melanie as she begins her next chapter in her midwifery journey and in her life. I’ve been so grateful to get to work with Melanie, and wish her the best in her future! Melanie wanted to share a letter to all of our TCM families to bid farewell. Thanks for a fabulous year Melanie!

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Dear Twin Cities Midwifery families, friends, and especially of all, the fabulous, Kate:

It’s been hard finding the courage to write this farewell letter because it truly signifies the end of such an amazing year. This has been the year of the growth of relationships, the growth of baby bellies who go on to become growing little babies, my growth as a student, and personal growth and strength that comes with going into the unknown of my first preceptorship and being on-call, pushing through some long nights of labor, and coming out on the other side with rushes of adrenaline and smiles as those little ones make their way into the world. It has been an unforgettable year!

First of all, I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much” to all of the amazing families I’ve gotten to serve for welcoming me and allowing me to be part of their birth team. It has been such an honor and humbling experience of being present of such an intimate time as your family grows. Getting to be one of the first ones to meet your newest family members as they arrive earthside is something that I will carry forward with me forever as I remember those amazing moments. Your kindness and acceptance towards me as a student present for your prenatal care, births, and postpartum care has been so greatly appreciated. I’ve been so blessed in getting to meet all of you and you have all enriched my life in so many ways!

And of course, I have to shout from the rooftops a giant, massive “THANK YOU!” to Kate. If it weren’t for our trip to Long Prairie and the great connection and friendship we built on that journey, I don’t know where I would be today. I will always be grateful for your belief in me that I was ready to take this journey when I felt so shy and unsure in the beginning. We have had so many great times driving all over the great state of Minnesota and have built a great relationship as friends and as teacher and apprentice. We’ve been through a lot together while being joined at the hip over the past year and my gratitude to you for your patience and trust in me as a student and an assistant is tremendous. I’ve learned so many lessons that I can carry forward in life and in the rest of my midwifery training. This apprenticeship has been a very profound time in my life that I will never forget as I keep chugging along in the lifelong learning process that is midwifery. Thank you, Kate, for being such a wonderful person and such a great friend to me. This isn’t the end, as I know we will work together many more times in the future. It’s just the beginning of a long and great relationship.

As most of you know, we are jetting across “The Pond” to visit family in Nottingham, England in December. This was where I met my sweet and amazing husband, Kev, and where we lived for the first year of our marriage and where our first was born. We are so excited to go back and be there for the holidays! I suspect my two boys will come home with little British accents like their dad 🙂 And since you all have shared so much of your own lives with me over the past year, I would like to share a little part of myself with you that is very relatable to your own recent experiences….we are expecting our own newest family member in June! We are over the moon and are so excited to see our family grow in the early summer. It seems surreal to be on the other side of the midwife experience and to be planning our own homebirth, but so fun too!

So, with that I would like to say “thank you and farewell” to everyone for the wonderful experience that I have been so fortunate to have. To all the mamas and babies; keep growing sweet little ones and may you have the beautiful and empowering births that you are planning!

Sincerely,
Mel