Here in NZ 90% of pregnancies are under the care of a midwife. You don't see an Ob unless you are high risk or something has gone wrong.

Our midwives are provided free of charge. If you get in early you can get an independent midwife who operates out of a practice with several other midwives and you would usually have the same person caring for you throughout, with a partner from the practice covering when your lead midwife is away. Otherwise you can go through the hospital midwives, but that is luck of the draw who is there for appointments and birth. The independent midwives usually do all the visits at your home.

For the birth, you are free to choose homebirth, birth centre or hospital birth depending on what midwife you have chosen and what services they offer. You can also go through an independent midwife for the pregnancy and then choose to go to a hospital for the birth, then return to your midwife for the after care where they visit for 6 weeks.

For my last birth I had a midwife who had worked for a homebirthing practice for 20+ years. They were very flexible and left it up to me on the day if I wanted to stay home or go to the birth center.

Compared to my first pregnancy and birth in Australia which was an endless parade of waiting rooms and random doctors, I really do prefer the NZ system.