St. David's Foundation threw a party at our place the other night, so their trustees and staff could see what their big grant did.
There were tours of our new office, waiters walking around with tiny yummy food, and wine, of course. But the best part were the stories. (Okay, and the cute babies.)
First off, some of us learned the milk bank was hatched by Dr. Sonny Rivera, NICU nurses and others in the cafeteria at St. David's Medical Center. We also learned the answer to the question: is there a relationship between St. David's Episcopal Church and the hospital? (The answer is: sort of. The church gave two doctors a loan to start Austin's "baby hospital," which is now the St. David's Healthcare System!)
But the best story was the one shared by the mom of a baby who received donor human milk from us. Her son Davis was born last summer, 3 weeks early. After a serious bout with jaundice he went home, but soon she knew something was seriously wrong. He wasn't getting bigger - he was shrinking. Alarmed, she took him to his pediatrician and received a scary diagnosis: "Failure to thrive." At two months old he weighed just 7-1/2 lbs! A self-confessed research-aholic, this mom already knew about the milk bank and how her doctor could prescribe milk to hopefully help her little boy grow.
And of course he did. Baby Davis was sitting right there with his dad, fat and happy as any baby we've ever seen. He's developing on schedule and did we mention his cuteness? Some people saw him flirting with another baby there named Mattie.
We don't often have parties with wine and waiters at the milk bank. But we did the other night so we could celebrate an extraordinary gift . We'll let you decide if it was the one from the St. David's Foundation (which made it possible to move into our extra-large offices where we can process more milk & milk donors and recipients can find us) - or if it was the gift little Davis got.
We're voting for both.
Cheers!
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