Kerri Walsh's Medal Count Continues to Grow

Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

When Kerri Walsh revealed that she and husband Casey Jennings planned to start a family after the Beijing Olympics, she wasn’t kidding! Just two days after taking the gold medal in women’s beach volleyball with partner Misty May-Treanor, the couple — married in 2005 — conceived their first child. The milestones are not mutually exclusive, either — at least in Kerri’s eyes! She tells the May issue of Pregnancy magazine that “when we won the gold, it helped me focus on the next medal, which was getting pregnant.” The experience has exceeded her expectations…So much so that she’s vowed to have “at least” three children — and preferably four!

“The best thing about being pregnant is everything feels so special. Feeling the baby move inside me is truly a miracle.”

The couple opted to learn the sex of baby-on-the-way, but they’re not sharing. Initially Kerri says she “truly did not want to know,” but it was important to Casey. “We had an ultrasound two weeks before Christmas and I asked the doctor to put the news in an envelope and seal it as a gift,” she recalls. “I cried as he opened it and we found out together.” The reason for her change of heart? “I thought it would help him connect to the pregnancy more since I’m living it every day,” Kerri, 30, explains.

While many women find themselves unmotivated to work out while pregnant, as an Olympic athlete Kerri often has the opposite problem. “I’m not trying to kill myself anymore,” she says. “Slowing down the pace has been the most challenging part.” She keeps herself in shape with a mix of light cardio, weightlifting and Pilates — but all the squats in the world haven’t been enough to fight the inevitable. Jokes Kerri,

“No one told me what happens to your butt and that truly frightens me. I need to get back into a Speedo!”

Source: Pregnancy, May issue

Comments

That’s why moms don’t have 360-degree mirrors – if you can’t see what’s behind you, hopefully nobody else will notice either. (Oh, and I’ve yet to see a grandma with a full-length mirror. YIKES! What does that mean?)

- Sheri on April 26th, 2009

i like that reasoning for finding out the gender…makes a lot of sense to me.

- sat on April 26th, 2009

I also like her reasoning for finding out the gender…but, I can NEVER wrap my mind around couples who find out the sex but won’t share it with other people! It makes no sense to me! If YOU can’t wait to be surprised why should everyone else have to? I totally understand when couples have names they won’t share with people, because most of the time people will give negative comments in some way or another, “I once knew a girl by that name who was a witch!” or “I don’t really care for that name” or something along those lines…so, in that sense, keeping a name a secret it totally understandable-but finding out the gender and not telling people is weird to me. I don’t get it.

- Ryan on April 27th, 2009

Her reasoning for finding out the gender is the only reason I’d want to know – not for material things, but to connect that much more.

- Erin on April 27th, 2009

LOL Sheri!!!! so true!

- CC on April 27th, 2009

I love Kerri and I’m glad her pregnancy is going so well for her. So what if she doesn’t want to share the sex of their child. To each their own. Can’t wait to read more about her pregnancy!!

- Shelly on April 27th, 2009

Ryan, some cultures are superstitious about sharing too much about the baby before s/he is born, so that might extend to gender. Also, some may worry that the ultrasound could be wrong (happened to my parents…I’m not the boy they were told they were having). Others might worry if they tell the gender everyone will get them all blue or all pink things. I would bet many of the celebs who say they aren’t sharing mean they aren’t with the press in particular, or anyone who is not a very close friend or member of the family. And who knows…maybe some people’s families like being surprised and wouldn’t want to know! Point is, there are lots of reasons a couple might decide to find out for themselves and keep mum to everyone else.

I did NOT want to find out the gender of the baby, but I came very close to doing what Keri did, b/c my husband desperately wanted to know. I was thinking that he could find out and then not tell me or anyone else. But, last minute he changed his mind, so we were both surprised on delivery day.

- MZ on April 27th, 2009

What a sweet, sweet sentiment to put the ultrasound in an envelope for a gift for her husband. What a wonderfully special moment for them both…a day they will never forget. Now THAT’S a gift! (And, Sheri, your comments made my day…so funny!)

- SouthernBelle on April 27th, 2009

As reported in the recent DIG Volleyball Magazine, Kerri & Casey are having a boy…His name is Joey Michael Jennings…The middle name Michael named after the late Mike Whitmarsh, and great volleyball legend, a great man and great friend of Kerri & Casey who tragically ended his life earlier this year…What a wonderful way to honor a friend!!

- Patti on April 27th, 2009