a blast of a day

Babies! The Woman's Hospital of Texas celebrates a record year with its 10,000thdelivery

The Woman's Hospital of Texas celebrated an exciting milestone today — for the first time in the Houston hospital's history, they delivered 10,000 babies in one year.

The lucky baby was Moriah Kiser, daughter of Becky and Chris Kiser, who was born at 1:08 a.m. on Friday.

When hospital officials realized last month that they would reach the 10,000 mark this year, they launched a "baby tracker" on their website and announced a plan to present the lucky family of baby number 10,000 with a basket full of baby items and gifts.

The Kisers, who were due in late December, realized that they could potentially be in the running and checked the online tracker constantly.

"As time went on, it became more exciting," Becky Kiser said. "As we got closer and closer, it went from the possibility of being one out of thousands to one out of less than ten."

"Having the 10,000th baby was a lot of fun," Becky Kiser said. "But we would have won the prize regardless."

When the day arrived, their nurses and doctors were rooting the Kisers on. The couple, who admit to having a competitive streak, received updates from staff members as each new baby was born and the competition became increasingly closer.

"I was in the middle of pushing when they announced that the 9,999th baby had been born," Kiser said. "Then they told me that another woman was going in for a C-section, and then I finally pushed again and we were number 10,000."

The Kiser family had friends and family members around the country rooting for them on Twitter and Facebook as well. "It's been a blast of a day," Kiser said.

"You don't hear people say that about giving labor very often," Linda Russell, Woman's Hospital CEO, joked.

But for the Kisers, welcoming Moriah into the world is a gift regardless of the hospital's celebration. "Earlier in the pregnancy, there were some potentially bad signs," Chris Kiser said.

The couple has another daughter, but due to some health issues Becky had in college, doctors always told them that having children would be unlikely.

"Having the 10,000th baby was a lot of fun," Becky said. "But we would have won the prize regardless."

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”