Dear Judy D (nonono, not Judy #2!), Your responsibility is awesome and if I in any way intimated that you should shirk it or shortchange your young charges, I am sorry that I was misinterpreted. One does the best she can, no one can be God. We wish that we could forestall every bad outcome, but we can't. I also think that it helps to stop and think sometimes that, especially in medicine, and especially in childbirth and the neonatal period, less is more, and the opposite, that more is less. One thing that has greatly disturbed me lately, sitting in Israel and watching American trends, and that is birth interventions and technologies becoming routines in order to "protect" the health care giver first of all, and not being at all positive that such and such is actually better for the patient. Oh, I understand very well your anxiety over having to "defend" your protocol; this is what the American culture has gotten to, sadly, in my opinion. I saw C-section rates go from 10% to 50% in the States, because vaginal childbirth, suddenly after a few million years, became dangerous and OBs "had" to protect themselves from lawsuits and do a section. What will happen when OBs start to be sued for death, morbidity or permanent damage after a section? I wonder how women will give birth then. I can very easily imagine protocols being written (not by you, but by less caring and imaginative people), where breastfeeding will become dangerous (baby's not latching! baby's losing weight! baby's not sucking properly!etc!) and the hospital staff will "have" to protect itself and breastfeeding, like vaginal childbirth, will become endangered. Obviously, this is one of my soapboxes. Please, everyone, do not take this personally. You all have very difficult and responsible jobs, you take flak from all sides. Just remember that sometimes less is more and more is less. The out-patient clinic to follow-up in the first few days after discharge is a very good idea - why not push for it hard? I don't see it as a bandaid at all. The major surgery you speak of, Judy D, is changing attitudes more than anything. And the OBs aren't the only "guilty" ones! By no means. Women who don't understand what it's all about and run for their lawyers are a tremendous threat to better health. MORE EDUCATION! The States has gotten itself into a really bad cycle, and there are no easy solutions, but the best start is educating the public and the medicos. Finally, I'm 49, so you're right on about Judy Garland, but wasn't there also a Judy Halliday then too? from Judy K to Judy D with best regards