At what kind of benefit gala do you see...

A man, wearing a tux, and carrying a baby in a carseat?

A fundraising dinner for an OB/GYN practice, that's what kind!

I'm sure most of you have heard of Dr. John Bruchalski and the Tepeyac Family Center. Well Mrs. Pickles is one of the fortunate patients at that practice. Dr. B delivered Miriam, in fact. Tepeyac is an amazing, totally pro-life practice. Their motto is "combining the best of modern medicine with the healing presence of Jesus Christ." A little while back they decided to transform into a non-profit practice, so every year they hold a fundraising dinner to help support the practice. This year the gala was on our anniversary, so we decided to attend. It was a LOT of fun. We saw several people we knew there -- all part of the "Catholic mafia" that's infiltrated this area. :) We actually sat next to people who graduated from the Alma Mater a few years before us. Small, small world! They brought their 2 month old baby girl. In fact, there were babies and carseats everywhere. It was great being at such a formal event where bringing your little baby was EXPECTED.

One of the beautiful things about Tepeyac is that they will take any patient, regardless of risk or ability to pay. Some women are such high-risk pregnancies that other practices refuse to treat them. Tonight we heard about a story of one woman whose membranes ruptured halfway through the pregnancy. (For the uninitiated, this means her water broke over 4 months early and the unborn baby was without the protection that provides -- there's a serious risk of infection.) Doctors from another practice all suggested she "terminate the pregnancy" because the possibility of carrying a healthy baby to term was so slim. One doctor even wrote in her file that there was 0% chance of viability. But the good doctors at Tepeyac took her in, carefully monitored her for infection, and admitted her to the hospital for the last month of the pregnancy. She delivered a baby boy 6 weeks ago, and is expected to be able to bring him home from the hospital any day now. I hope the woman brings her son into the first practice to show him to them, and says, "Hey, remember me? This is that 0% chance baby!"

Because the doctors at Tepeyac will take in patients with severe complications, and they also provide services to the poor, the practice is heavily dependent upon donations, as you can imagine. It costs $2500 just for a normal birth (not including prenatal care). If they treat women with complications, that amount goes up. To raise money the gala included a silent auction, live auction (hosted by a priest), and a raffle. The auction items were some awesome things (vacation packages to the Caribbean, a prenatal massage package, golfing at an exclusive club, fishing with one of the Drs, works of Catholic art) -- but there's no way we could bid for anything until we become independently wealthy. We would have loved to be able to give more -- we were convicted once more of the importance of getting out from under our debt so we can be more generous to causes we feel passionate about.

Tepeyac is a fabulous practice and I feel so blessed to be a part of it. It's been generating a lot of press lately too: Dr. B and Tepeyac were even featured on the front page of the Washington Post (and fairly positively!) a few months ago. Anyway, it was great having a good time and supporting such a beautiful cause at the same time!

Happy Anniversary to us!

6 years and 2 kids later, we still look gooooooooooooood.

Mr. Pickles even got a new suit for the occasion. (Mostly because I told him I wouldn't be seen in public with him in his old one -- at least not at a "black tie optional" affair!)