Nurse-midwives provide all prenatal care and assistance in labor and birth, and contract with a physician who provides care if a woman develops complications.
Births usually take place in a nearby hospital.
In some practices, the nurse-midwives also attend home births, or do home births only, with a consulting physician available. Private practices owned by physicians who employ nurse-midwives . This increasingly popular model for practice allows women flexibility in choosing a doctor or nurse-midwife. A woman whose pregnancy is healthy and normal could receive all of her care from a nurse-midwife. Women generally give birth in a hospital.