Agreed. This is how it is done in most hospitals in Germany. When we had our child in May there were two midwifes with us during the process, the doctor joined

Agreed. This is how it is done in most hospitals in Germany. When we had our child in May there were two midwifes with us during the process, the doctor joined once it got serious. We could have had the child at home or at a birthing house, however we wanted to have the security of knowing that there is surgery available if something should go wrong (the hospital had a special icu for babies, I don't know the english phrase for it, but they basically could do every procedure that might have been necessary). In addition to that, we really enjoyed the "we don't have to do shit" during the next three days (we got a familiy room, so I could stay with my significant ohter and child. Giving birth at home would have added to the stress (cleaning, getting food, trying to keep visitors away until we had slept a little etc), so for us the hospital was perfect. That beeing said, I have tremendous respect for midwives. They do a hard job with really shitty hours and a lot of responsibility. And they get screwed over with the insurance, especially in Germany (the premiums for insurance skyrocket while the payment doesn't (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/-camalo-gaskin/the-other-uproar-in-germa_b_5603329.html) http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/-camalo-gaskin/the-other-upr...)