A midwife attends to you during your birth. A midwife is fully qualified to deliver your baby and attend to you (sewing up etc.) for a normal birth. In some countries, for example Britain, this is the standard treatment for most mothers. Only when complications arise would your care be transferred to a doctor. Although often you do see an obstetrician a couple of times during your pregnancy to check that all is fine.
In Hong Kong the mothers without complications often see a doctor for the check ups and then have midwives attend them during labour with a doctor turning up for the actual birth. 15 years ago it was possible to have a midwife deliver your baby at some of the private hospitals (e.g. Matilda) but that option doesn?t seem to be available now.
The medical system here seems to be getting more and more like the USA. Where everyone has a specialist attend them even when they have no complications. This has the advantage of having the specialist on hand if a complication occurs. But the disadvantage of the specialist assuming something is wrong when it is in fact OK because they are have a warped view of normal because their job is always with problem cases. Where as a midwife fully understand the range of normal. Knowing when to ask for a doctor's help is a large part of her job.
In the USA most mothers have an obstetric nurse attend them in labour. An obstetric nurse is not the same as a midwife. She is really there to help out the obstetrician rather than to actually deliver the baby.
The following web site has more information about midwives in USA. Some of this doesn?t apply to Hong Kong because midwives are widely used here which is not the case in the USA.
http://midwifeinfo.com/aboutmidwives.php
Another site, which is useful if you want to know how to assess a potential birthing place, is
http://midwifeinfo.com/topic-10questions.php
Hope this helps,
Barb