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Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings introduces her baby daughter, Scout

Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings is now a proud mom of three, and she’s still thinking about winning that next gold medal.The three-time beach volleyball Olympic gold medalist and her husband, Casey Jennings, welcomed Scout Margery Jennings on Saturday morning. Scout weighed in at 7 pounds, 2.6 ounces and stretched 20 1/4 inches long.Little Scout made her TODAY debut on Tuesday, cradled in the arms
Kerri Walsh Jennings and family
Kerri Walsh Jennings and familyTODAY


Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings is now a proud mom of three, and she’s still thinking about winning that next gold medal.

The three-time beach volleyball Olympic gold medalist and her husband, Casey Jennings, welcomed Scout Margery Jennings on Saturday morning. Scout weighed in at 7 pounds, 2.6 ounces and stretched 20 1/4 inches long.

Little Scout made her TODAY debut on Tuesday, cradled in the arms of her mom and surrounded by her dad and brothers Joey, 3, and Sundance, 2.

Walsh Jennings, 34, explained the meaning behind her daughter’s name.

“Scout is my favorite character in all of literature — Scout Finch from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ She’s sweet. She’s brilliant. She loves her family and I just love her little spirit,” Walsh Jennings told Hoda Kotb. “And Margery is after my mother, who is the most beautiful human being I ever met.’’

Casey “allowed me to go with the name and supported it 100 percent,” she said. “It suits her very well.”

Scout’s birth happened a little quicker than expected. Walsh Jennings was induced several days before her due date after a normal day that included a morning workout. Once labor got going, though, her baby girl arrived even before the doctor.

“It was like lightning-fast,” Walsh Jennings said. “Really slow process, then all of a sudden, it was just like, she’s coming.”

Casey Jennings said he was nervous as the labor progressed without the doctor present, and his wife said he had to “make sure the nurses were on their toes.”

“I knew what was happening, and I think they’re just so used to it taking as a longer time,” Casey Jennings said of the nurses. “If she’s hurting, it’s go-time, and they started to get a little more heat on it and they were moving and the nurses brought the baby into the world.”

“They were amazing,” Walsh Jennings said.

Ten minutes after Scout was born, “our doctor walked in and said, ‘What happened? I missed the fireworks,’” she said.

For now, Walsh Jennings said she is going to take a few weeks off to get to know her daughter and let her body heal before getting back to her sport. But she’s got the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro in her sights.

Kotb asked her if the next Olympics are still on her dance card. “Absolutely,” Walsh Jennings said. “I’m not done dancing yet.

“As far I'm concerned I’m just beginning,” she told Kotb. “Between now and then, there’s a lot of tournaments to play in. I know what I’m gunning for but Rio gold is the ultimate.”

Walsh Jennings won her third Olympic gold medal at the London Games last summer. In September, she appeared on TODAY to share the exclusive news that while she was competing, she was also newly pregnant.

“When I was throwing my body around fearlessly, and going for gold for our country, I was pregnant, and today I’m 11 weeks pregnant,” Walsh Jennings told Matt Lauer.

Three months later, she and her family held a gender-reveal celebration live on TODAY. As she followed a family tradition of unwrapping a Christmas ornament with the gender written inside, she exclaimed: "We're having a girl. ... I can't believe it."