Moving to St. Johnsbury VT PREGNANT!

[Psmythe]

Looking for anyone in the St. J area with any information about anything.

My MIL lives there, and we're planning on relocating there just before the holidays.  We have a 17 month old and we're due to have our second January 8th!

Anyone have any feelings about the birthing center at NVRH?  Anyone know of a homebirth midwife there?  Diaper services? Anything would be helpful.

My Husband grew up there, attended the Academy, but he has only been back for a few visits with his Mom since he left for college in '99.  I'm sure a lot has changed!  We are planning on renting as cheaply as possible while we look for a house.  We're also looking for a new job for him!

Is there any public transportation even to odd places?  Shuttles to colleges/hospitals/resorts?

The cost of living here in Burlington is just getting worse and worse, and my Husband's raises, while frequent, have been small enough that we're falling behind.  Hoping to make a new start.

[Koalamom]

Yes! another mama in the NEK! Welcome!

I am in here and had a homebirth. I highly recommend Natanya Champney, asitwasmidwifry.com. She delivered my ds. There is also Bonnie, my neighbor had 3 homebirths with her.

There was a baby and moms group that was going on, but we stopped as lots of the moms were going back to work. checkout metup.com

There are lots of organic farms and 2 health food store in St J. Burke is lovely, and the whole lyndonville area has a great cozy feel.

[Psmythe]

Thank you so much for the reply.  I've been a little apprehensive that I might be the only 'alt mamma' in town when I get there.  I'll definitely follow up on the midwife tips.  My husband isn't so convinced about homebirth since we needed some intervention with our last one, but I think he's convinced that the hospital is close by enough for back up that it isn't terrifying to him.

I did see that there's a storytime at the athenaeum, but haven't found much else.  I'll check out meetup too!

[Koalamom]

Not sure about the library in St J, but the lyndonville has a story hour once a week and many moms rave about it.

I had issues with my sons birth, but my midwife was very trained and she took care of everything well. And yes, we are very close to several hospitals, so I don't worry at all.

If you are having your baby in Jan, and moving here during the holidays, will that be enough time with you to be comfortable with a new doc/midwife?

[Psmythe]

I'm hoping to overlap prenatal care before the physical move, but I think we'll be OK with new midwives.  Our last/current practice has 6 women, and you get whichever one is on duty when your labor starts, so it might even work out that we feel better acquainted with a new practice that is smaller.   We had only a couple of prenatal visits with the woman that delivered our son.  We had seen a few of her co-workers several times but our schedules just didn't mesh until the big day!  She was a great match.  I even internet hunted her down when we found out she was no longer with them.  I for sure would have traveled to see her if she was in private practice somewhere.

[Koalamom]

How is it going? did you make it out of the city yet?

[Psmythe]

Not yet!  We spent Halloween in St. J with my MIL and checked out some of the available neighborhoods.  We struck out on a couple of hopeful jobs and have decided to wait until #2 is born to revisit this plan.  It just seems too hectic to try to cram in before our due date, and my husband would miss out on his (potential) Xmas bonus at work if we moved before the end of the year (Of course, it may cost us more to hang around than he'll get in a bonus...).

We got a little more excited about our prospects during our visit, despite the delay of plans, and I can see us shooting for an early spring move.  Our current living situation isn't exciting, but looking forward to somewhere new helps take some of the irritation out.  I keep repeating "It's only temporary... temporary..."

[Koalamom]

Sounds like a good plan.

We were in St J for halloween, and took my kids trick or treating around the musaem. We could have passed right by eachother.

[queendom lady]

We moved south from St. Johnsbury about two years ago and miss it terribly!  Although it took a bit of investigating to find people once I had my daughter I felt surrounded by like minded crunchy families.  The Northeast Kingdom is a magical place and I'm sure once you get there you'll fall in love.  Eat at Elements and ask around there. They're awesome people.  Good luck!

[DoulaMarissa]

I know a great doula in training in Burlington who is probably willing to travel, I did my training with her and I know she is looking to volunteer at births. Let me know if you want her info. She is new but great - I would have her at my own birth! Best of luck.

[Psmythe]

We actually live in Burlington right now, and have decided to postpone our moving plans until much later, once Belly Baby has arrived and we've gotten settled in again.  Looking to volunteer you say... Hmmm...  PM Me if you think she'd be interested in working with me here in BTV!