The midwife I hired for my pregnancy was great! Very intuitive and probed into personal issues with then-DP that went way beyond the mechanics of labor and birth, all stuff that needed to be dealt with.
Too bad she didn't get to attend the birth. After a really, really long labor at home, we decided to transport. We met up with a CNM at the hospital and tried some more. I wound up with a very medical birth, after all, but wouldn't even consider making an OB my first choice. Probably not even my second or third choice. Oooh, I've got my soapbox out, but I think I'll just not get up on it...
The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart. ~Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green