BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - A birthing center is under construction in Bloomington-Normal that would be the second in Illinois and the first outside of the Chicago area.
The Bloomington-Normal Birthing Center is to have prenatal education, yoga and exercise classes, two exam rooms, a nurses' station and three birthing center rooms. Each of those will have a labor and birth tub and bathroom.
Illinois didn't allow birthing center until recently. The first birthing center in Illinois opened in the Chicago suburb of Berwyn in 2014. The Illinois Department of Public Health has a list of conditions that would keep women from delivering in a birthing center, such as diabetes or heart disease.
The Bloomington center hopes for 25 to 40 patients during its first year.
