Hello to all lactnetters! My name is Janelle Gridley and I'm a Midwife working in the "Special Care Baby Unit" at our local hospital in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. I subscribed to LACTNET about 2 weeks and have been enjoying all the postings.I tend to be a little shy and have finally summoned the courage to write my intro. I am the mother of two boys, Matthew 5 1/2 and Michael, 3 1/2 who I breastfed for 13 months and 15 months respectively.My husband Ross, also enjoys reading some of the mail. I love some of the American terminology you use especially "Pump and Dump" I think I've worked out what most of the abbrieviations mean as they are different to ones we use. Our hospital has approximately 900-1000 births annually and we have 8 LDR's (Labour, Delivery Recovery) rooms. 4 of these are double rooms where partners and families are encouraged to stay at least 24 hours postpartum and the other 4 are single rooms. We have a 17 bed postnatal area and a domicilliary midwife service that provides follow up care at home. We have 4 lactation consultants on staff and many others who studied the course but for different reasons didn't complete the exam. The Special care Unit is a level 2 nursery (ie Not a NICU ) but we have all the facilities to deal with a NICU baby for a short period of time until transfer to a major hospital in Melboune with such facilities. That about covers it briefly and Thankyou all for all the good work. There is certainly a wealth of knowledge out there.I do hope you all enjoy your conference. Regards, Janelle [log in to unmask] Please feel free to email me about anything- I love receiving mail!!