Authentication, Sessions, and SSL

I am attempting to do the following.  I have a login page.  I want 
connections
to this page to transition to SSL.  Once login is complete the 
connections
should transition to non-SSL.   This looks like it's going to be 
something of
a bear.  Has anyone successfully attacked this before?  If so, can you 
post
the code.  If not so, can you describe your approach?

I don't want to dive into the innards of albatross, but I have a 
feeling that I
may have to.

-jeff