That's the great thing abou freebirth, there's many many ways to skin that particular cat and it's all up to you. If I were to have another baby, I would definitely be leaning towards freebirth. But I would like to have my dear friend a doula with me. (I know just who I'd choose!) I wouldn't be averse to having a midwife there. I would probably do my pre-natal checks with a private midwife. Many fbers don't do such checks but I'm too curious and I would like the care and attention, too. Then I might let my midwife know I was in labour and ask her to come, or I might ring and tell her after it was all over. I woul choose a midwife who was fine with both options.

I know some fbers really just want dh/dp and children and no one else, esp in USA I've noticed. I get that. But I really like other women with me when I birth. I had two women friends at my first homebirth, (plus one midwife), one woman friend at my second (plus a midwife I'd never met before who volunteered out of the crowd at the shopping mall, yes baby was born in a shopping mall, still living that down!!), and three women friends plus two midwives at the third homebirth - I could honestly have done without the midwives (I did not choose as cannily as I could have) but my three friends were just perfect.

Each to their own - that's the beauty of freebirth.