Tandem Birth Center plans to partially open this summer, fully open by end of 2022

By the end of this year, pregnant people in Monroe County will have a new alternative way to have their baby: a freestanding birth center.

Officially founded in late 2019, the Tandem Community Birth Center and Postpartum House will partially open this summer with a gynecology clinic and community space and aims to open a birthing center and postpartum house by the end of 2022. The two-story center is at 2613 E. Third St.

The Gannett Foundation's annual giving program, A Community Thrives, granted Tandem $60,000 last year. The grant making and crowdfunding program is currently accepting applications from nonprofits serving Bloomington and Monroe County. The deadline to apply is June 30.

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People in Bloomington have asked for more pregnancy care options for years. Over six years ago, a petition campaigning for the expansion of midwifery care in IU Health Bloomington Hospital received 1,000 signatures.

Tandem will be the first freestanding birth center within 60 miles of Bloomington. The center will also fill a need for pregnancy and early parenting education, co-founder Julie Duhon said.

Birth centers are alternatives to hospitals or home births and allow for more natural births with minimal medical intervention. Most people with lower-risk pregnancies can consider birth centers as an option, Duhon said.

The goal of the center is to make pregnancy and birth feel more normal and allow the pregnant person to feel in control of their bodies, she said.

“No one can control what happens in birth,” she said. “But at Tandem, we’re approaching birth from the perspective that this is a normal physiological process that human bodies have been doing for a long time. You’re not sick. Your body is doing something that it can do.”

Birth center has key differences from hospital

Duhon isn’t against medical intervention or hospitals. In fact, she’s had three children in a hospital.

Still, she believes feeling truly supported in pregnancy and birth is crucial. At Tandem, two or three midwives will spend hour-long appointments with patients and allow them more choice during birth, such as standing or squatting instead of laying in a bed.

When Duhon did typical prenatal appointments, she felt the providers only had time to make sure she wasn’t having any life-threatening complications and not much else.

“I felt that … when I walked in, all they saw was my uterus,” she said. “When you have a very large number of providers or short appointments, they all have the intention to provide that really high quality care, but it’s just much more challenging.”

At Tandem, Duhon hopes patients won’t ever feel like that. Midwives will take time to sit with the patient and try to understand all their concerns and feelings.

“The hour-long midwifery appointments mean that yes, you still check all those things to make sure there aren’t any complications happening …  but you also have that time to talk about how you’re eating, how you’re feeling, what you’re thinking.”

The center will have two birth suites with a large bed and a birthing tub. Providers will provide trauma-informed care and be trained to know when a medical situation calls for a trip to the hospital, Duhon said.

Postpartum house included among other services

By the end of the year, the center will also open its postpartum house, which will feature four overnight guest rooms. Guests will stay for one to five nights and receive care from providers such as pelvic floor physical therapists, mental health therapists and lactation consultants.

The center also will include a medical clinic that offers services such as pap smears, chest exams, STI screenings and contraceptive consultations. The clinic is set to open this summer.

Additionally, a community space opening this summer will provide a place for parents to come and receive support from peers and providers and act as a safe space to relax.

“This is going to be a place where they can just come with their baby and sit on the couch and someone will understand what they are going through and be able to connect them with resources or just be there with them,” Duhon said.

The center already provides classes on topics such as lactation education and postpartum planning. These classes, which are mostly virtual, will continue in person once the center partially opens this summer.

Services that aren’t typically covered by insurance, such as the education classes or postpartum house services, will be offered with sliding scale fees.

“Certainly we are trying to be accessible to everybody regardless of where they’re at on the income spectrum,” Duhon said.

Center needs additional work before opening

While the center plans to partially open soon, its biggest barrier to opening is meeting certain landscaping requirements of the city of Bloomington, Duhon said. One of these requirements is planting certain pre-approved shrubs in the parking lot before receiving occupancy and building permits.

The center is having a shrub drive where anyone can donate shrubs or loads of dirt and mulch to help meet the city’s landscaping requirements. A list of accepted shrubs can be viewed on the center’s website.

Other city requirements, such as redoing the sidewalk in front of the building, could be pricey. In addition to the $60,000 grant from the Gannett Foundation, the nonprofit raised more than $13,000 through community donations last year. Tandem continues to fundraise and accept donations.

Contact Christine Stephenson at cstephenson@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Tandem Birth Center to open clinic, other services this summer