My SIL had a student midwife when her #1 was born (i was there as her birth partner) and she was better than the qualified midwives in a lot of ways - the other midwives were under so much pressure in terms of the women they had to care for, but the student was able to stay through the whole labour and birth, and SIL's DD was her first "catch". SHe seemed not only to know what she was doing, but because she was still new to it was still full of the reverence and care that one puts into early ventures in one's career.

I offered to have a student midwife but it turned out that none of the students available was ready to do a homebirth when i went into labour.

Hana