I've had two hospital births, the first with tons of interventions and complications from those interventions, the second was virtually free of all that. I think the key to avoiding intervention is education and confidence. I've read stories about midwives who intervened even at home births so I'm not so sure that's the answer. If the mom doesn't educate herself instead of following her health care providers blindly when they suggest certain tests and interventions, it doesnt matter where you give birth. That said there are certainly hospitals and doctors that are more intervention-happy than others.
You have to be able to stand up for yourself and be confident in your decisions. For example, if you're 40 weeks along and they're talking induction based on nothing else but a due date that could be wrong, don't let them bully you into taking pitocin. read up on all the different interventions they commonly use so you know what to expect and whether it's really neccesary in your specific situation. Personally I'm not against the monitoring, I didn't find that internal or external monitoring in either of my births led to interventions or hindered the process, I was in pain no matter what position I was in so I didnt care whether I was hooked up to anything. I was induced because I had GD and an estimated "big baby" with my first. I believe the cytotec led to my dd going into mild distress which caused the meconium in her fluids. I also had pitocin which I think caused her jaundice which in turn made her so sleepy it was impossible to nurse her. So imo, in my case,, it wasn't the routine monitors but the routine medications that did me in. Fortunately I didn't have a c-section but I did get an episiotomy without even knowing it!
Anyway with my second I read everything I could on the internet and books posted in the sticky on this forum. That helped a lot. I went into labor on my own and although it was just as long and painful as my first, I didn't have nearly as many interventions because I made it clear to the nurses and doctor what I wanted. Also after my baby was born I told them in no uncertain terms that he wasn't going to be seperated from me unless it was a life or death emergency. I gave in and let them test his blood sugars but when they came back a tad low I declined sugar water and had them test again after we nursed and they went up YAY! If I wouldn't have educated myself to know what level was acceptable and interviewed a pediatrician prior to this who said that level was fine, I might have given in and accepted the sugar water. He never left my side the entire time, they did all the routine newborn procedures in front of me and were very respectful of my wishes to not give him the Hep B vax or circ him. I was very pleased with my birth experience the second time around. My ds was born healthy, no jaundice, no meconium and latched on and nursed much better than my first baby. It is possible to have an intervention free hospital birth, you just have to be an informed patient who knows your rights. We also left early, with the blessings of my OB and his pediatrician, even though I had group b strep and the policy was a 48 hour stay. So again, I was very pleased with how I was treated and being a second time mom who knew what she was doing made all the difference in the world.
Good luck!
