Wow... my voicemail from Betsey finally worked. I am so sorry my system didn't allow me to benefit from her words before. Betsey raised a good point when she asked how many women have entered or stayed in the field of lactation largely because of Lactnet. I would like to say that, although I started my studies before I subscribed -- I heard about it, but waited until I was accredited to join -- Lactnet certainly has played a huge part in my learning about breastfeeding. I remember feeling that I didn't understand half of what I read, and would read posts over and over again to try to "get" what was being said when a study was criticized or various approaches were discussed. I must have learned something, because now I read them with much more appreciation. I think one of the best things it has given me is the sense that there is a community out there. I have known for a while (since I started going to meetings, anyway) that there is an LLL community, but I didn't know it reached out its arms to so many other breastfeeding, and, I'm ashamed to admit, I didn't think that there were so many hcps working in the field who were so dedicated and passionate about their work... my mistake, obviously, not theirs (although there was this one nurse in the hospital when I ... just kidding). And why would I want to work in a field in which people weren't empathetic? Granted, there would be many more jobs to choose from, but why bother? Jo-Anne *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html