Susan C. Mobley, M.D., is the newest OB/GYN to join Memorial Health University Physicians – Provident OB/GYN Associates in Pooler.

Dr. Mobley is now accepting new patients at the office located in the Mulberry Office Park (101 West Mulberry Boulevard, Suite 100, across from Cheddar’s).

For a limited time, her new OB patients will receive a free copy of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, the New York Times bestseller that has become the “pregnancy bible” for women everywhere.

Dr. Mobley is a Savannah native and avid Georgia Bulldog. She earned her medical degree from Mercer University School of Medicine. After completing her OB/GYN residency at Memorial University Medical Center, she joined Provident OB/GYN Associates.

To make an appointment with Dr. Mobley, call 912-350-5937. Learn more at providentobgyn.memorialhealth.com.

Memorial Health is a SouthernMamas.com advertiser

A women’s support group for infertility and adoption support will meet on Thursday, April 24 2014 @ 6:30 PM. For more information contact Kelly Wiggins @ 912.596.0852 or emptycradle_savannah@hotmail.com

The goal is to provide support and resources for women in the Savannah area struggling with infertility or pursuing/or have been through adoption. Newcomers to the group are welcome to attend.

Kelly Wiggins of Savannah started the group. Read Kelly’s story by clicking here.

The team at Bright Life Chiropractic is on a mission to help create one of the healthiest communities in the world right here in Savannah. Come learn how they can help with health concerns such as asthma, allergies, ADHD, autoimmune disorders, anxiety, colic, chronic fatigue, ear infections, fibromyalgia, hypertension, migraines, infertility, thyroid imbalances, neurosensory integration disorders and more.

Bright Life Chiropractic in Savannah specializes in pregnancy, infants, pediatrics and family care.

Dr. Samantha Hornick and Dr. Jared Brown at Bright Life Chiropractic are Webster Technique Certified by the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association.

At Bright Life Chiropractic, Dr. Jared Brown and Dr. Samantha Hornick assist people in gaining victory in their health by offering cutting-edge chiropractic corrective care in Savannah’s most state-of-the-art chiropractic health care facility. Dr. Jared and Dr. Samantha focus on setting people free from their current conditions so they may live their lives to their fullest potential.

Dr. Jared Brown and Dr. Samantha Hornick provide specific, scientific neurologically based chiropractic care for you and you family!

Bright Life Chiropractic, 2 Park of Commerce Blvd. Suite D, Savannah 31405, 912.777.3717, info@brightlifechiropractic.com , www.BrightLifeChiropractic.com

A women’s support group for infertility and adoption support will meet on Thursday, March 28 2013 @ 6:30 PM. For more information contact Kelly Wiggins @ 912.596.0852 or emptycradle_savannah@hotmail.com

The goal is to provide support and resources for women in the Savannah area struggling with infertility or pursuing/or have been through adoption. Newcomers to the group are welcome to attend.

Kelly Wiggins of Savannah started the group. Read Kelly’s story by clicking here.

A women’s support group for infertility and adoption support will meet on Thursday, March 28 2013 @ 6:30 PM.  For more information contact Kelly Wiggins @ 912.596.0852 or emptycradle_savannah@hotmail.com

Lutheran Services of Georgia (LSGA) is hosting a charity art show and silent auction on February 28, 2013 at 5:30. The art show will take place at 6555 Abercorn St/, Suite 217, and will feature local artists as well as some of the children and adults LSGA serves.

If you or someone you know would like to donate a piece of art for our show:
•The maximum canvas size for judging is 5×7 (all other sizes are accepted for donation, however).
•All mediums are accepted.
•Submissions are due to Katherine McKenzie at 6555 Abercorn Street, Suite 200 by February 7th.
For more information about submission or the event, please contact Katherine at (912) 353-8875.

LSGA is a non-profit organization that provides a multitude of services to the community. These services include: Refugee Services, Disaster Response, Family Intervention Services, Adoption Services, and Specialized Foster Care for at risk children and children and adults with special needs.

In anticipation of the Seventh Annual Lowcountry Down Syndrome Society Buddy Walk & Family Festival in Forsyth Park on Oct. 6, we asked local parents of children with Down syndrome what the general public needs to know about the condition.

You can read many of their responses in my Savannah Morning News column by clicking here. Unfortunately, not all the helpful responses made it into the article. So below are some additional responses from two strong Savannah advocates for children with Down syndrome.

Pediatrician Ben Spitalnick of Pediatric Associates of Savannah

Dr. Ben Spitalnick of Pediatric Associates of Savannah is the pediatrician for many local children with Down syndrome. Dr. Ben is also a Board Member of the Lowcountry Down Syndrome Society. He shared the following tips for what everyone should know about children with Down syndrome:

1) Virtually all of a child’s medical complications from Down syndrome can be handled by the medical community right here in Savannah

2) Children with Down syndrome do better when included in mainstream situations such as classrooms, not when isolated with only special needs children

3) Most children with Down syndrome have talents and skills people don’t expect, so consider the term “differently-abled” (I like diff-abled) instead of “disabled”.

4) Down syndrome can occur in any family, regardless of health and age of the parent. There are more children with Down syndrome born to younger parents than older parents.

5) Virtually all of the care your baby will need the first year, is routine newborn baby care. Concentrate on being a parent and family with a new baby, not on the features of Down syndrome.

Candy Bogardus, President of Lowcountry Down Syndrome Society

Candy Bogardus has three children with her husband, John, including their daughter, Lainey, 7, who has Down syndrome. Candy shared the following tips for what everyone should know about children with Down syndrome:

1. Embrace the adventure that comes with having a child with Down syndrome. There is never a dull moment, and they will always teach you something!!

2. Early Intervention is key. Lainey was in Speech Therapy through Babies Can’t Wait at 8 weeks of age. Those early visits made a phenomenal difference in her oral motor development.

3. Enjoy each and every milestone to the fullest–no matter when they reach it!! Don’t rush it!

4. Remember that ALL children have special needs!!

5. The parents of children with Down syndrome don’t place limits on them so why should anyone else! The sky’s the limit! Just let them be like everybody else and they will surprise you!!

6. Inclusion in all aspects of school, community, and life is very important. They will make a difference in every life they touch!

7. Even though you feel like all you do is go to therapy, the short term and long term benefits are well worth it!

8. Never be afraid to ask questions! Join a family support group- it’s a great way for you to learn from other parents and for your child to learn from other children!

9. Every child is fearfully and wonderfully made by God for His purpose!! God does not make mistakes!

2012 Buddy Walk
Saturday, October 6, 2012, in Forsyth Park
www.ldssga.org
Savannah’s Paula Deen will be the Grand Marshal leading walk participants in the 1-mile fundraising event. The Buddy Walk Program welcomes participants of all ages and abilities. Bring your carriage, strollers, wheelchairs, little red wagons and pets.
Contact: 912-728-8505 (John or Candy Bogardus)
Register online here or the day of the walk.
Registration on Buddy Walk day begins at 8:30 AM
Opening Ceremonies begin at 10 AM
Walk begins at 10:30 AM
Free Family Festival in Forsyth Park from 11 AM – 2 PM

Meet the Holloway and Knofczynski families of Pooler. Stacey and Greg Knofczynski and Brandi and Trent Holloway could not ignore what they see as a worldwide epidemic — the huge number of orphans who have special needs and, therefore, slim chance of adoption.

Both families felt so blessed with their healthy, happy biological children and close-knit families, they wanted to share that with children with special needs who didn’t have parents, homes or anyone to love them other than the staff at the institutions where they lived.

Read more about these amazing families and how you can help them in my local newspaper column here.

Chances are you’ve considered, however briefly, becoming a foster family as a way to help allieviate Georgia’s foster children crisis and improve the lives of children.

And chances are you’ve thought of all kinds of reasons not to do so. But what if becoming a foster family came with huge amounts of support, a whole churchload of support to be exact? Would that make you more likely to consider taking in a foster child?

If so, then check out a local network called Faith to Foster, a coalition of Chatham County churches that serve families and children in foster care. The goal of Faith to Foster is to make foster parenting less challenging and more appealing to local families.

You’re invited to a Faith to Foster informational meeting, 6-7:30 PM May 7 at Southside Baptist Church, 5502 Skidaway Road, Savannah 31406. Child care will be provided if you call ahead to ministry director, 912-355-9555.

For more info on Faith to Foster including how you can help volunteer to aid local foster families or bring the program to your church, click here or email Faith to Foster ministry director Jenn Menn at jennifermenn@hotmail.com or call 912.925.5074.

Read more about Faith to Foster and the foster mom behind it – who along with her husband have fostered a total of 17 children (not all at once) since 2007 –  in my Savannah Morning News column this week here.

In my newspaper column this week entitled “How baby Mary met her parents”, I write about how the recession is impacting adoption.

Some couples who can’t afford private adoptions – like Ryan and Josh Lee of Savannah (pictured here with their adorable daughter Mary) – are opting for the less expensive option of independent adoptions.

Read about the Lee’s story of struggling with infertility and finding peace through adoption here.

Find out more about all types of adoption and get information from local resources and organizations who want to help place children in loving homes at an Adoption Forum at Savannah Christian Church
6:30-9 PM Thurs. Oct. 15. The forum will be at The Link at Savannah Christian Church’s Henderson Campus, 55 Al Henderson Blvd. For more info: 912-629-4721 or email jzauche@savannahchristian.com

Savannah Christian Church also has an infertility support group for couples struggling with infertility meets every second Saturday of the month at 6:15 PM in Room 250 at Savannah Christian Church.

A new infertility support group at Savannah Christian Church will have a Girls’ Night Out at 6:30 PM Thurs., Aug. 27. Meetings are held every month.

Shelby, 23, Cooper, 14, Hanna, 10

It’s among the most divisive questions in the realm of adoption: Should adoptees have access to their birth parents, and, as a result, be able to establish relationships with them and have questions answered about their backgrounds and medical histories?

Meet a Richmond Hill family who’s an example of the benefits of open adoption.  The Suddaths – parents Matt and Mary – their biological child, Shelby, 23, and two adopted children Hanna, 10, and Cooper, 14, (pictured here) believe open adoption is the most child-friendly option.  Read their story in my newspaper column this week. Click here to read.  

Hanna and Cooper, who are biracial, say being biracial children in a white family has challenges, but neither Hanna nor Cooper consider being racially different from their parents much of an issue.

You can find out more about open adoption at a “De-mystifying adoption” seminar, 2-4 pm Sun. Aug. 23 @ St. Anne Church, 10550 Ford Ave., Richmond Hill.  “Exploring the World of Adoption” is sponsored by St. Anne Church and the Parish Council of Catholic Women.

Free and open to the public. Featuring short talks by Birney Bull, adoption attorney; Mary Suddath, adoptive parent; a birth mother; and an adoption consultant as well as a Q&A session. Refreshments and a nursery are included. Participants can speak privately with speakers and adoptive parents representing various types of adoption. No reservations required.

Information: 912.756.3343.

Help is available for Savannah-area women struggling with infertility.

A new infertility support group is starting this month at Savannah Christian Church. The first meeting will be 6:30 PM Aug. 8. Meetings will be every month.

The goal is to provide support and resources for women in the Savannah area struggling with infertility or pursuing/or have been through adoption.

Happy Easter.

Of course, it’s a busy day. But when you get a chance, please check out my column today in the Savannah Morning News about a remarkable Savannah couple’s story “When a miscarriage is prevented.”

Anyone who has suffered a miscarriage knows you’re usually told that, chances are, the loss was your body’s way of ending an unhealthy pregnancy. But not all miscarriages are the result of fetal chromosome abnormalities.

The story of Sean and Stefanie Reeder and their very healthy 22-month old son, Grant (pictured here) is proof that some miscarriages can and should be prevented. Thank you Sean and Stefanie for sharing such a personal, emotional story.

To see the Lori Grice photo of Sean and Stefanie – the one which captures their “I’m pregnant!” moment and is mentioned in the column – click here.