The first of its kind in Bentonville, a new hub offers expecting parents a range of services from pre-pregnancy to postpartum, all under one roof.

Hardie opened Bentonville Birth Services in 2023 and now has a team of 11 doulas, who are non-medical support professionals that help facilitate physical and emotional well-being during pregnancy, childbirth and beyond.

Hardie said she was very thoughtful of the practitioners she invited into the space, choosing those who aligned with her values in terms of “being patient-centered, evidence-based and highly professional.”

“As doulas, a huge part of our job is referring to other support services. We often act as a bridge to connect you with resources we know will help,” Hardie said. “I wanted to collaborate with trusted partners who were providing the care we found most beneficial to our clients and bring us all under one roof."

Several of the businesses have locations in Fayetteville, and the hub allows them to more easily serve expecting parents farther north. Since opening, Hardie said it has become a valuable space that allows them to create a network of support, not only for the clients, but for the providers as well.

Hardie, who was a doula in Seattle before moving to the area four years ago, said she noticed a significant difference in the amount of care options available to expecting mothers in Northwest Arkansas compared to the Pacific Northwest.

“You can just clearly see the maternal health crisis unfolding in front of us in real time,” she said. “Less options for midwifery care, less access to doula support and evidence-based care that we know improves outcomes.” 

Arkansas has one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the U.S. A 2024 report from The Commonwealth Fund gave Arkansas a near-bottom ranking of 47th among the 50 states for overall women’s health and reproductive care. The state also ranked last in one category of the report: the size of its maternity care workforce. 

“If you just look at the mortality rates in Arkansas for our childbearing ages of mothers and infants, it's not good,” said Katie Atkins, owner of Arkansas Lactation. “In order to change that, I think that we have to have access to quality care.”

Atkins said providing parents with improved ways to reach the kind of support they need in order to be successful is critical, and having quality care in one location makes it easier on new parents, when travel times can become a burden. 

“Even though all of our businesses are separate, we work hard with moms and their schedules so that they're not coming on multiple days if we can make it work,” she said.

In dedicated space next to a community lounge, Bloom & Bond Maternity sells maternity and nursing clothes, pumping bras, accessories, and a variety of pregnancy, postpartum and baby products such as herbal remedies, tinctures and lactation teas. 

Bloom & Bond Maternity also hosts a variety of classes and events meant to foster connection, such as the Expecting Mamas Connection Hour and New Moms Connection Hour. Owner Alli Martens was inspired to create her business after her experiences with her own two pregnancies.

“There’s a huge need for a space for people to go to start to build that community,” Martens said. “With everything I saw during my pregnancy, the postpartum healing questions that I had — I just really felt like there should be a spot that all moms should be able to go to get their questions answered and be referred to people that they need.”

Martens also partners with the other businesses in the maternal hub for events, such as “Pumping 101 with Arkansas Lactation” and “Mini Pelvic Floor Birth Prep with Essentials Pelvic Therapy.”

“There is lots of collaboration trying to meet the needs in multiple ways,” Martens said. “I just love that we are able to serve families and mamas with a full circle of community and services here.”