Susan Terwilliger, - I applaud direct-entry midwives for providing a safe alternative to highly-medicalized hospital births. I delivered both my children with midwives and highly recommend it to others. The thing many Americans do not realize is that direct-entry midwifery is the standard way to deliver babies in most European countries, with much lower Caesarian rates, lower complication rates, and improved infant mortality. It's also a lot less expensive and covered by most insurance policies. Midwives provide all the same pre-natal care that a doctor would but stress a relaxed and natural birth experience which appears to improve the chances of for a healthy delivery.