Local Tallahassee AP/NFL resources

[HoneyTree]

So being pregnant again, I am all about shoring up my local resources! Here's what I've got to share:

Two local WAHM cloth diaper businesses:

Hello Kiddo's

Babies in the Sun

Plus our beloved boutiques:

Mama & Baby Love

Best Beginnings

Home birth midwives:

Jill Welch (home birth only [phone])*

Alice, Layla, and Diana at the Birth Cottage (home and birth center)

Baby carriers:

I know that the Birth Cottage sells Maya wraps, but I don't know anyone who makes them locally.

Organic food:

The Growers Market at Lake Ella every Wednesday from 3 p.m. to dusk

New Leaf Market (90% of their produce is organic, and about 30% is local, and both are well marked as such)

OK, that might be all I can muster right now! Anyone else have anything to add?

*On a personal note, Jill was the midwife at my first birth, and I am DEFINITELY using her again!

[turtlewomyn]

http://www.slowfoodtallahassee.org/
Slow food tallahassee, for all the local locavores.

Also, there is a farmers market at Market Square on Saturday mornings (NE side of town off Thomasville). Turkey Hill Farm is always there, one of our local organic farms. You have to ask questions there though, since it is a farmers market, not a growers market (i.e. not all the food is grown locally, some is though).

There is also a Fresh Market off of Thomasville and Village Square, that does have some good stuff, but it is pricey.

Congrats on your pregnancy!

[HoneyTree]

I love our little Slow Food group! I've met some really great people who are members of that organization, and they put on some good events.

General health:

The Healing Arts Alliance for alternative medicine practitioners (A lot of AP/NFL families see Dr. Ness as their family practitioner, Dr. Hall as their nutritionist, and I've heard good things about Drs. Sexton, Weaver, Cooper, and Butler as far as family dentists, though I haven't heard of ANY who are hip to the fluoride issue)

Breastfeeding:

La Leche Groups in town

Biweekly breastfeeding support group (sponsored by TMH, but led by really wonderful lactation consultants!)

API:

Attachment Parenting International local group (link also has other support groups hosted at Best Beginnings...)

More local stuff:


Locally Owned Tallahassee

Natural Awakenings Magazine has a big calender of seminars, events, classes, etc. (I think it's only available in paper, but you can get it at the co-op.)

Natural Times, the newsletter of the co-op, also has a pretty stacked calender section, and their community board, at the store entrance, is big and well-maintained

CSAs and other food stuff:

Magnolia Farms in Live Oak delivers to Tallahassee

Full Circle Farm, also in Live Oak, gets its RAW DAIRY () products to Tallahassee every two weeks. Here's an article about them along with a price list, and their phone number is 386-776-2770, email thisisdennis (at) juno.com

KBH Farms in Thomasville, Georgia, has grass-fed, hormone-steroid-antibiotic free beef. They sell at New Leaf, but you can contact them directly at [phone]. E-mail Bryant at [e-mail].


Lifestyle:

http://www.greentallahassee.net/

Sustainable Big Bend

[HoneyTree]

Nonvaxing-friendly pediatricians:

H. Whit Oliver (will give you a little speech about whooping cough, but is otherwise OK with no vax, takes Medicaid)

John Ness (has a long waiting list, but has a reputation as the most NFL-friendly ped. in town)

To obtain religious exemption for nonvaxing:

Make an appointment with the nurse at the health department, located on Old Bainbridge Road. (You can also opt out of the state's vaccination tracking system, Florida Shots, by filling out a form there.)

[fullofgrace]

by request

[nerin]

wanted to add a couple of things here!

Tallahassee has recently added http://www.ecologicalbabies.com to their list of locally owned cloth diapering businesses! Jen, the owner, has a selection of items on sale at Best Beginnings but has a wider selection available on her website. she offers personal consultations for families and trouble shooting for families who are going through a rough patch with their diapers. she will also help coordinate baby registries, which i thought was cool.

Best Beginnings also carries some slings now -- definitely Maya and i think some others as well. Molly hosts a weekly bf support group in the back room on Wednesday mornings at 11am.

i tried seeing Dr. Ness and had few problems getting in (they bump you up, i think, if you have a newborn...) and he was great about a lot of issues including delayed vaccines and recommending supplements, but i left that practice for other reasons. i did not find him to be very professional, and actually felt quite demeaned and disrespected by his attitude. i will definitely be researching more about Dr. Whit!

i don't think API has meetings in town anymore since the leader had to move last summer....

i am seeing Diana and Layla at the Birth Cottage for this pregnancy. i haven't asked specifically why because i'm new to them, but Alice is no longer there.

if you want to/have to see an OB who takes a more natural approach than most, i highly recommend David Dixon, D.O.! he is with North Florida Women's which is a HUGE group (and def has it's drawbacks) but he was super duper supportive of all of my natural wants when i delivered ds 2 years ago. he also delivered my friends twins (i don't think the Birth Cottage does twins...) last year and really encouraged her not to push for induction and to try a vaginal delivery (her high risk dr. was kind of the opposite, tho). LOVE him, and if i wanted to (or had to) deliver in a hospital again, he's the only dr. i would want!

[hello.kiddo]

Fellow TLHian here!

Good news! The AP group is picking back up. More info can be found at Meetup. The group name is the Tallahassee Attachment Parenting Meetup Group. The second meetup is potluck style on Friday, Jan 16th @ 6:30 pm at one of the leader's houses. If you're interested, call me up and I'll pass along the addy! 339-3488.

It's my understanding that Alice is not as involved with The BC because of her current battle with cancer. That's all I know.

I actually am the mama behind Hello Kiddo cloth diapers - thanks for the mention! I'm waiting to see what happens with the CPSIA before I invest in more material costs. I've moved to using recycled 100% cotton t-shirts with hidden soaker and waterproof fabric. I have so much fun sewing them but with all of my community activities, I have little time to invest as of the moment!

There's a home schooling playgroup that meets every Thursday at 2:30pm at Optimist Park in Indian Head Acres. I'm hoping to go this week with my ~13 month old to check it out. I've heard it's more alternative lifestyle oriented as opposed to religious which is what we are looking for. Charlie with LLL is also starting a LLL group at FSU. I'll post more when I hear it!

[Birdie B.]

Nice thread! I am pleasantly surprised at how "crunchy" (for lack of a better description) Tallahassee is for parents.
Best Beginnings carries the Moby wrap, as well as the Maya wrap, and their cloth diaper selection is growing.
There is now a local diaper service, but I can't remember the name of it right now.
Dr. Kelch, Dr. Ness's partner, is our family doctor. She is wonderful! She is incredibly supportive of breastfeeding, and she even suggested to us that we delay Meadow's vaccines. If you can't see Dr. Ness, I highly recommend Dr. Kelch.
Journeys in Yoga has a great prenatal yoga class, taught by a local doula. I really enjoyed it while I was pregnant.
Diana and Layla were my midwives - and they are excellent.:
I just went to the library's babytime for the first time, and it seemed full of like-minded moms. I honestly have not met one mom who doesn't breastfeed, and most of them are so natural-minded.
I'd like to check out some of the parenting groups in town. Thanks for posting these resources!

[BJewels79]

Originally Posted by nerin

if you want to/have to see an OB who takes a more natural approach than most, i highly recommend David Dixon, D.O.! he is with North Florida Women's which is a HUGE group (and def has it's drawbacks) but he was super duper supportive of all of my natural wants when i delivered ds 2 years ago. he also delivered my friends twins (i don't think the Birth Cottage does twins...) last year and really encouraged her not to push for induction and to try a vaginal delivery (her high risk dr. was kind of the opposite, tho). LOVE him, and if i wanted to (or had to) deliver in a hospital again, he's the only dr. i would want!

I don't have much to add, but I also want to say that Dr Friall, in the same practice as Dr Dixon, is wonderful. I've been seeing her for many years now and she has always been supportive of my requests in regards to births.

[skonkers]

Just wanted to second the Dr. Friall suggestion. I am a local doula and have had great experiences with her. She's very open to alternatives during birth (she does prefer more "standard" ways of doing things, but she's open to what you want!).

~Lindsey

[RoadWorkAhead]

I've never had a problem with Dr. Elzie as far as non-vax'ing goes...Heck, he doesn't even ask me anymore now that we're on kiddo 3.

Oh, and Alice attended a birth with Diana the same weekend I had DS with Layla, so I think she's just retired by choice

FSU LLL is meeting the 3rd Wednesday of the month around 6ish, but I cna't remember specifics now.

[BetterTogether]

I'm new here and joined because of this post! We just moved to Tallahassee and it is SO helpful to have all these resources listed here.
We are not planning on immunizing and we also go to Dr. Elzie - so I'm glad to know he won't kick us out of the practice!

I'm looking for a good doctor who will consider a primary VBAC, but who is also a skilled surgeon (I have problems with ovarian cysts).

I've heard of Oliver and Forsthoefel so far. I know that Oliver is a family doctor, and I kind of like going to just an OB, but I'd consider him if he was really the best. My friend goes to Forsthoefel, but warned me that she is not known for a good bedside manner. I am super sensitive and don't think she will be the right doctor for me.

Thanks again for posting all of these resources!

[BJewels79]

I don't recommend Forsthoefel at ALL. I went there once before having kiddos due to various issues and she pretty much wrote off all my problems. In the end I found that I had PCOS. I again recommend Dr Friall at NFWC. She is just wonderful. It is a very large practice, but she treats me very well and listens which is really important to me. As far as surgeries, she's done a D&E for me and also surgically removed my IUD this year and I had absolutely no issues. She seems knowledgable and up to date on PCOS which of course comes with cysts

ETA: I've been seeing Dr Friall since 2002, I think she was brand new to the practice at that point. Since then I've always recommended her and now know at least a dozen people who are very happy there

[BetterTogether]

Thank you for the rec. of Dr. Friall! I called their office and they said that none of their doctors will do a VBAC

Is there anyone else you've heard of?
Thank you so much

[BJewels79]

Really? I had no idea. Hmmm, the only other OB I've seen in Tally was Dr George at Azalea Women's Healthcare. I know a couple of people who are happy at that practice, they have midwives also. However, my experience with Dr George wasn't good...in fact I went right back to Dr Friall (who had quit taking my insurance but resumed again) who helped me (re: m/c). Dr George only would offer a D&C the same day I was told I would eventually m/c. When I asked for one final u/s so I could be sure, she simply stated that there was nothing else she could do for me She only recommended a D&C and just flat out said there was nothing I could do. ....very rude given the situation.

[BetterTogether]

Thanks for that info too.
I heard that Forstheofel has a new partner who will do VBACs, so maybe I will try him and the midwives there.
I spoke with Azalea today. Dr. Wah is no longer there and they are expecting to have a midwife soon, but they don't have one now.

[BJewels79]

Ugh, Dr Wah was the one doctor in the practice that I heard was really good Good luck finding someone, I'm all out of suggestions...

[skonkers]

If you're looking for an OB who will VBAC, call the birthcottage and ask them. That would definitely be a good place to start.

~Lindsey

[turtlewomyn]

I have a list of VBAC doctors in Tally somewhere. Dr. Oliver is my FP and will do them, Dr. Foesthophel has lots of midwives on staff (I have heard iffy reviews of her), Anderson Brickler Midwifery Center will do them I have heard, and I guess Azalea is still doing them?

In November I had an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured and required emergency surgery, I was taken to TMH and the doctor on call was Dr. Franz with NFWC. He is an excellent surgeon and doctor. He gave me informed consent, did a good job at saving what he could, and answered all my questions afterward. NFWC does not do VBACs (although Franz told me that he used to do them in TN and that he personally is not against them, but that practice will not do them). You might want to consider the posibility of having both a doctor for your VBAC and another doctor for your surgical needs? I am sticking with Dr. Oliver for now, but if I were to have another ectopic I would probably go back to Dr Franz for help (Oliver is Catholic and won't treat an ectopic pregnancy with a heartbeat with methotraxate which is the choice I would probably make).