![\"Chris](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Johnson-family.jpg\")
<\/a>Chris Johnson holds Madelyn, and his wife, Jillian, has Claire, left, and Sophia. Chris will receive the doctor of medicine degree Friday, May 29, and then study ophthalmology at Indiana University Health Ball Memorial for a year before serving his residency at Loyola University Hines VA Hospital in Chicago.<\/p><\/div>In 2012, he married Jillian, his girlfriend of three years. Both wanted children and they thought, \u201cWhy not start right away?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say that it doesn\u2019t get any easier as you go further in your training, so we thought we would get started,\u201d said Chris, who is now 26. \u201cWe always wanted a good number of kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he didn\u2019t expect they would have three children in 18 months. <\/p>\n
Their oldest daughter, Claire, was born May 17, 2013, which was four weeks before his first set of boards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was doing 12-hour study days,\u201d he said. \u201cThe night my wife went into labor, I was studying until 10:30 p.m. and then went to bed. She, of course, went into labor at midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their twins, Sophia and Madelyn, arrived Dec. 30, 2014. Before the twins were born, Jillian was put on bed rest while he was interviewing for an ophthalmology residency. <\/p>\n
Jillian\u2019s first thought was, “Oh no, what are we going to do?\u201d The next thing that ran through her head was that these babies were \u201cnot allowed to be born\u201d until he got home from his interviews. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut with a little luck and a lot of prayer and extra helping hands, the twins waited another month to bless us with their presence,\u201d Jillian, who works as a claim representative at State Farm Insurance, said. \u201cWe were so relieved that they waited until Chris was done with interviews so I had help at home while I recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally, the babies were going to attend his graduation from the College of Medicine and Life Sciences Friday, May 29, at 2 p.m. at Stranahan Theater. <\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, we decided the kids won’t attend the ceremony as I found out it is hours long. We don’t want to torture those around us,\u201d Chris said. <\/p>\n
Reactions to their growing family have been varied. Some people think they are crazy. Others ask, \u201cHow do you have time to do anything?\u201d Some say, \u201cWhat were you thinking?\u201d And then the most prying question: \u201cWas this planned?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cNot 100 percent, definitely not the twin part, although twins do run on my wife\u2019s side of the family,\u201d Chris said.<\/p>\n
The couple met during their undergraduate studies at Ohio State University. Chris is from Celina, Ohio, and Jillian is from Sagamore Hills, Ohio. For the most part, they share parenting duties, but Jillian knows how important it is for Chris to do well in school.<\/p>\n
After Claire was born, he would hold his daughter while he was studying. She would spit up on his book, which was \u201cthe bible of studying for the test,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a difficult time,\u201d Chris said. \u201cMy wife would get up with her a lot so I could focus on studying. Then during rotations, I was getting up three or four times a night with the baby. I wanted to give my wife some sanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jillian said Claire was a terrible sleeper when she was an infant. For the first month, she got up at every feeding, which was just about every hour around the clock. Eventually, she put Chris in charge of diaper changing and burping. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe make a really great team, and I could never do it without him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
When his wife was five months pregnant with the twins, he had to complete a monthlong rotation in ophthalmology in Cleveland. <\/p>\n
He remembers saying, \u201c\u2018My wife is pregnant with twins and home alone with our daughter. What am I thinking?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Luckily, the twins were born during his winter break, but he only had six days with them before getting back to work. He can\u2019t remember much from that time. He wasn\u2019t sleeping much, obviously.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were up a long time each night,\u201d he said and laughed. <\/p>\n
The next step for the family is moving to Indiana for his internship at Ball Memorial in Muncie. After that, he will complete his residency at Loyola in Chicago. <\/p>\n
Chris decided to become an ophthalmologist after observing a cataract surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the combination of medicine and the eyes,\u201d he said. \u201cI will be able to make an impact in people\u2019s lives. Seeing people being able to see again made me love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
His mentor, Dr. Gerald Zelenock, professor and chair in the Department of Surgery at UT Health, said Chris is a hard-working and dedicated young doctor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a very mature student who accomplished much in medical school, which is a challenge as a married student with children.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time he is finished with his residency, Claire will be in school, while his twins will be heading to kindergarten. Jillian said his dedication to education is inspiring. <\/p>\n
\u201cChris is a great example of hard work and dedication for our daughters,\u201d she said. \u201cHe is very dedicated to doing well in school and, obviously, as shown by his accomplishments, his hard work has truly paid off, but this is not at the expense of his family. I have never seen a father who is so amazing with his children. I know that the kids have no doubt that they are No. 1 in his life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read about Chris Johnson, who will graduate from the UT College of Medicine Friday, May 29, and how he juggled having a family while taking classes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":789,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,38,63],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/789"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34277"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34322,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34277\/revisions\/34322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}