Looking for a Midwife and/or Birthing Center in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks or Moorpark.

[Athora80]

I'm not pregnant yet but we will be trying for our second child within the next 6 months and I DO NOT want an OB/Hospital experience again. I cannot seem to find any good resources for a midwife in my area. I would like to contact a local midwife and find out how much it would cost us, etc...so we can be prepared. So anyone know of one in the Simi Valley area? thanks.

[moonstones]

Hi!  I live in Simi Valley, and was going through a similar search when I was pregnant with my DD.  Most midwives who I spoke to said that this area is pretty dry as far as homebirth midwives go -- there aren't many (any?) who work out of this area.  However, every midwife who I talked to in the LA area was willing to take me on as a client and drive here for my birth.  Sherman Oaks/Studio City/Encino areas that far away, nor is Burbank, or even Pasadena (the 210 to Pasadena rarely has traffic).  I met with these midwives: http://www.socalbirth.com/providers/homebirth-midwives.html, and loved their practice, but ultimately I decided to have a hospital birth for insurance reasons.  I ended up driving down to the UCLA midwives.  You'll definitely be able to find midwives willing to come to Simi Valley for a homebirth, but you'll probably have to do a bit of driving for your in-office appointments.  

[Athora80]

Good to know, in all my googling and searching I never came across that link. It's an awesome resource, thanks so much!

Oh by the way, do you happen to know a vax friendly doctor or pedi around here? We don't vaccinate and we would like to find a new doc for my son if he ever needed to go. Thanks again.

[moonstones]

Yes! We have a fantastic pediatrician, very non-conventional, and very skeptical of vaccines.  We're on a very slow schedule, but she would have been happy if we decided not to vaccinate entirely.  Her name is Dr. Kawasaki. She works out of Thousand Oaks in the Rolling Oaks Pediatrics office. She is really fantastic too if you're co-sleeping/doing extended breastfeeding, and she uses homeopathic remedies too.  

[Athora80]

That's awesome! My mom lives in Thousand Oaks so I'm over there often anyway. I looked her up on healthgrades and it doesn't look like she takes blue cross hmo's :( (darn HMO's). But I'll call and find out either way, thanks so much! Happen to know of any non-vax or delayed vax playgroups around? I'm sort of new to the area and don't know anyone else with young kids.

[moonstones]

Nope, I don't know of any playgroups in our area!  If you find something or want to start something, let me know. All my friends with babes are   closer to LA, so we usually end up going that way.

[Athora80]

Shucks...well how old are your little ones or do you only have one child? You said you delayed vaccines? Are you against a playgroup with an unvaxed child?

[moonstones]

My DD will be a year on October 4th, how old is your little one?  And I'm absolutely open to a non-vax playgroup.  Is there anyone else out there interested in starting a playgroup in our area?!  

[Athora80]

Oh nice, my son just turned 1 a month ago so they aren't far apart. I posted
a thread about this a few months ago and someone in Filmore was interested
and I messaged her my info but never heard from her :(. Maybe i'll post
something on my facebook and see if I get any bites.

[WaitingForKiddos]

Hey hey hey Athora! I'm so sorry I was a flake! I found out I was pregnant the end of July and it's been kinda' nuts around here since then! I totally want to get together. I see your message to me in my inbox,  I'll get a hold of you after this weekend.

There are some GREAT midwives in Ventura County!! In the past I've seen Sue and Dawn at the Ventura Birth Center (venturabirthcenter.net) and for this pregnancy, because VBC doesn't do VBACs, I'll be seeing a OB who catches VBAC babies at VenturaMidwife.com 's birthcenter. Those are two birth center/home birth options. There's also a few midwifes who do only homebirths. Some allow for VBACs and some dont. If you contact Sue at VBC she can tell you who's doing VBACs this week.  For Pedis....I've heard great things about Dr Kawasaki. We see the Dr' at Surfside Peds in Ventura. They are for sure provax if youre wanting them but when we came in and simply said 'we are a non-vaxing family' we havent been talked about vax's at all. They are also okay with our lack of going to 'well baby' visits.

 

[Athora80]

Well, no luck with the facebook post. I actually realized a friend of a family member removed me. She has a baby and vaccinates so I assume she didn't like all my anti vaccine posts : /. So all three of us should get together! Congrats on the pregnancy Cindy and I'm so glad you still wanna get together, I was a little worried. How old is your little one again? 

Oh and unfortunately Dr. Kawasaki and all the other anti vax docs don't take HMO's :((. I'm gonna check out the Ventura Birth Center, thanks! I'll pm both of you with my contact info in a bit :)

[carastar]

I'm a little late in seeing this thread, but I wanted to chime in.

Our pediatrician is also Dr Kawasaki and we LOVE her. She's is great when it comes to no-vax, co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding,

intact baby boys, homeopathics, whole food health, etc. We went through two other pediatricians in the area before finding her and I'm

SO glad we kept looking. She is absolutely the best. That is very unfortunate that her office does not accept HMOs. We are cash-pay,

so that hasn't been an issue, but honestly, if we had insurance and it wasn't one that they accepted, I'd still pay out-of-pocket to see her.

I am currently pregnant (almost 18 weeks) and am seeing Dawn at Ventura Birth Center for a home birth (she travels for home birth and

the other midwife, Sue, attends the birthing center births). Oh, and we live in Simi also, so Dawn is definitely an option for you. She just

delivered my friend's baby in Thousand Oaks a few months ago. I absolutely love Dawn and did from our first meeting with her. I highly

recommend Ventura Birth Center.

I know I just reiterated things other people already said. :D Good luck!

[Michelle32984]

Hi, 

Sorry to be a bit off topic here but I used to be a nanny and took the baby to see Dr. Kawasaki many times and I must agree she is one the best in the area. 

I just reopened my daycare here in Simi Valley and am accepting 6weeks to kindergarten. 

I started my own thread Childcare Simi Valley if anyone is interested or knows anyone who needs childcare. I am licensed, have 10 plus years experience, and have great references including Dr. Kawasaki :)  

Also, I know someone who just had a baby last week locally at a birthing center and loved it so I will try to find out where she went.