463 Seventh Avenue

New York Presbyterian Hospital is set to expand in midtown, having recently signed a deal for 23,000 square feet on Seventh Avenue. The hospital, with a history of notable patients, such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Andy Warhol, is the result of the 1998 merger of Presbyterian Hospital and New York Hospital. New York Hospital was founded by way of a royal charter from King George III in 1771.

"We are confident New York Presbyterian Hospital will be happy in this space, and the close proximity to a major transportation hub makes the location ideal for an organization of this size," said David Levy of Adams & Co., representing the landlord in the 15-year lease.

Michael Burgio of Cushman & Wakefield represented the hospital. The asking rent was $36 a square foot.

egeminder@observer.com

Ms. Barnett, who gave birth to her two children at the hospital and has been involved with the benefit for seven years, is in town for two days, she said. The previous night, she had to attend a benefit at the Spence School for girls on the Upper East Side, which she also still supports.

"Year in and year out I am still involved because I truly think New York hospital is the best hospital in the world," said Ms. Barnett. "I feel very close to New York and its causes and its hospitals." (To be fair, Ms Barnett said that she also now sits on the board of her local San Francisco hospital, the California Pacific Medical Center.)

As Ms. Barnett was speaking, Dr. Frank Cherveneck, the gentle-faced doctor who looks more like a pizza dough maker than a OB/GYN to Manhattan's prominent housewives, had raced behind her to greet Judith Giuliani, who had just walked in wearing a belted, pink suit.

"And I do it all for that man right there," continued Ms. Barnett, looking at the doctor. "He’s like the most delicious man in the world!"

With so many medical advances in women's health, we wondered if there was still anything missing for Ms. Barnett.

"How to be fabulous without suffering through the five-inch platforms?" she joked. "You know, we don’t wear those in San Francisco and I wore them all day yesterday and I couldn’t walk by the end of the day!"

The fashion sponsor for the day was the Swiss label Akris, which had donated looks for the runway show that took place as the ladies sat down to pick at the gazpacho and breaded chicken--"How did they have the nerve to serve us breaded chicken," uttered one health-conscious guest seated at the Daily Transom's table--and outfitted board members like Ms. Barnett, Heather Mnuchin and Lizzie Tisch in its designs. (All three were wearing prim white cocktail dresses.)

"I had my daughter here who will be six next week. I had a c-section and it was sort of unexpected and I had to stay in the hospital for five days," said Ms. Tisch, "But it was the most wonderful experience because of the doctors and the nurses. After that it was like, 'Anything you need!'"

What sorts of medical miracles is Ms. Tisch awaiting in the women's health department?

"How to have men have babies!" she replied. "I remember Nita Lowey, the congresswoman, at a breast cancer lunch years ago saying that it’s come so far that when they used to do the research on all the rats in the laboratories, even all the rats were male!"

Just as the fashion show was about to begin, the president of the hospital, Dr. Herbert Pardes, who said he was "not a sophisticated observer" for the fashion happenings of the day, was standing back taking in all the ladies in expensive dresses and four-inch heels--some with protruding pregnant bellies--discussing their c-sections and now, healthy children.

"Obstetrics and gynecology has always had a strong relationship with many of the prominent women in New York. The obstetrics unit at the hospital does extremely well," he said with a smirk.

1:37, 1:39 a.m.

4 pounds, 10 ounces; 4 pounds, 14 ounces

Columbia Presbyterian Hospital

Alan Burdick is an editor at Discover, the science magazine, but his attitude toward the birth of his twins was far from objective. “I was probably like every father,” he said, “worried in advance about passing out and the sight of blood and all that.” It didn’t help that his wife, Susan Dominus, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, went into labor six weeks before her due date. “What’s happening now?” she kept demanding with a reportorial persistence. “How much longer is this going to take?” Mr. Burdick ultimately rallied and wound up cutting the umbilical cords of little Leo, who wields a Herculean grip on his toys (“He’s more the bouncer at the club door,” said the new pops), and Joshua, a li’l cut-up who was given the nickname “Mel Brooks” by his mom. “It’s bizarre,” Mr. Burdick mused. “You go into the hospital as a couple, and the next day you aren’t a couple, but you don’t really feel like a family—whatever the hell a family is.”

Today, Bill Clinton will be attending the groundbreaking for New York-Presbyterian Hospital/ Columbia's new heart center in Washington Heights.

The Pei Cobb Freed-designed facility will measure 142,000 square feet. The heart center is getting off the ground with the help of a generous $50 million donation from the Vivian and Seymour Milstein family foundations

- Michael Calderone

UPDATE: Lizzy Ratner, The Observer's medical beat reporter, offers this report from yesterday's groundbreaking.