Possibly moving from TN to the Bakersfield, CA area (pediatiricain and midwife OB suggestions...

[TNKaren]

There is a very good possibility that my family will be moving to the Bakersfield, CA area by April. I am currently 34 weeks pregnant, so timing-wise, I would have a 4 week old (more or less). Does anyone have any suggestions for pediatricians in the area? I don't vax and don't circumcise (new baby is a boy). I also have an intact, non-vaxed 4 year old.

I'll also need a midwife/natural-minded OB for myself. Someone who won't give me grief for having a home birth and won't push hormonal birth control on me.

Also, any other general information about the area would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Karen

[crunchyxianmom]

Hi Karen! I'm in Bakersfield, and I've had two home births with LaMonica Hillberg, planning a third in July.  LaMonica recommends Dr. Lewis at San Dimas Medical Center as her OB backup, but others have been accommodating as well. Mine is Dr. Wiliams-Olango, also at San Dimas.  She knows I'm a pain-in-the-butt and she likes me anyway.  ;)  My previous, beloved, home birth-friendly OB retired two years ago, so this is my first pregnancy with Dr. O.

As far as pediatricians go, I've heard a few recommendations if you have Kaiser, but otherwise, ours keep retiring!  Right now I'm using Dr. Hernandez, and it's been no trouble so far. I haven't talked to him yet about the new baby, though, and we've only been seeing him for a year. Dr. Fan is popular, but I don't know if he's Kaiser-only or not.  I can ask around if you like.

Are you also homeschooling?  I run two local homeschooling networks, one on Facebook, the other on Yahoo groups, if you're interested.

~Amanda

[TNKaren]

Hi Amanda!

Thanks so much for the midwife, OB and pediatrician recommendations. I have no idea which insurance we will have. It looks like we will have a choice between Kaiser, Blue Cross, and Blue Shield. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the plan information so I don't know which one we would likely choose.

We also aren't sure what we are going to be doing about school. Here in TN, the cutoff for kindy is September 30 and Will's birthday is September 27. He is eligible to start kindy here in the fall, but we were likely going to keep him home one more year and start him the fall of 2013. We also had our sights set on a Montessori school that I went to. We knew that there was no way we were sending him to a public school here. They are pretty terrible all around. With the move, I'm not sure what we are going to do. I'm interested in homeschooling more than my husband is, but I don't think he is completely against it. I'd be interested in joining both the facebook and the yahoo group if that's ok. I'm Karen LeMar Siegfried on facebook.

Thanks again!

[xnwife]

I was born and raised in B-town! I highly recommend Dr. Shah. I miss him. We don't live in the area anymore (close) and our new pediatrician is great but not Dr. Shah.

[xnwife]

Oh and I have heard good things about Valley Oaks Charter school.

PM if you have any questions.

[crunchyxianmom]

Karen, I'd be happy to add you to my groups -- I friended you, so when you accept I can invite you to the FB group. The yahoo social group is here:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BakersfieldHomeLearners/

Bakersfield is a really friendly, easy place to homeschool.  Our public schools, on the other hand, are hit-or-miss depending on your neighborhood and your child's needs. We do have one Montessori school, but I have not heard a lot of love about it.  I'm sure it's still worth looking into, though.  We homeschool independently - no public charter or private program, and I love it that way. My husband's a public school teacher, and very supportive of homeschooling. You'll find the most supportive homeschool dads are in education themselves. :)

I've heard good things about Dr. Shah, too.  When you find out which insurance you'll have, let me know, or post it to the group.  You'll get lost of relevant recommendations that way.

Btw, I have 10yo, 9yo and 5yo boys and a baby due in July.  :)

~Amanda

[crunchyxianmom]

Originally Posted by TNKaren 
 Here in TN, the cutoff for kindy is September 30 and Will's birthday is September 27. He is eligible to start kindy here in the fall, but we were likely going to keep him home one more year and start him the fall of 2013.

Also, in California, kindergarten isn't mandatory, so you don't have to do anything official until the school year after they turn 6.

[TNKaren]

Lindsey, thank you so much for your pediatrician recommendation as well as the information for the school.

[TNKaren]

Amanda, thanks for the link to the yahoo group. I'll join that once I get through here. And thank you again for so much information. It's looking more and more like this move will really happen and once the ball starts rolling, I think it's going to go pretty quickly.

[Amoreena]

Homebirth midwife:

Brenda Capps, DEM
Bakersfield, CA 93309-5117
661-833-9983 (home)
661-333-2846 (cell)
[e-mail]

[e-mail]
Serving central California - Los Angeles north to San Francisco
http://prosperousandsuccessful.blogspot.com/2011/02/brendas-birth-services.html
Serving central California - Los Angeles north to San Francisco

Re Valley Oaks Charter -- unless there is another one by that name in Bakersfield area, the one I'm aware of is in Ojai, in Ventura County, not near Bakersfield. Of course, there could be numerous schools named Valley Oaks Charter :-)

There are some great statewide homeschool associations that are good to belong to for getting information about homeschooling in California. It's a great state in which to homeschool. Going to homeschool park days and conferences are two of the best ways to meet real live homeschoolers and learn the many ways that families homeschool. There's a huge spectrum of methods and approaches, and you can taylor it to your family, your child/ren's individual learning styles, etc.

http://californiahomeschool.net/

http://www.hsc.org/

http://cheaofca.org/

If you're interested in a natural-minded group to join in advance to ask questions about geography and such, including the questions you've asked here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SoCalAPFamilies

Hope this helps! My family of four moved here in 2003 from Montreal, Quebec, and I'm originally from Kentucky ... lived in TN for four years in my past life, during single years :)  We've been homeschooling all along.

Edited by Amoreena - 2/13/12 at 9:25am

[TNKaren]

Thanks everyone for the information! DH left this morning for Bakersfield for his interview and he seems very optimistic about it. I will keep everyone posted.

[xnwife]

Good luck to your husband!

Here is the link to the website: http://www.valleyoakscharterschool.org/