60-80 pounds…are you freaking kidding me?!?!?!

Written on 8/12/2010...posted on 8/17/2010:

Most of you reading this blog probably know Melissa and I (or at least one of us) pretty well. For those that do, you can probably imagine what the first couple of days must be like after finding out that we’re having triplets. The panic officially set in and we figured that we had to figure out every issue that can possibly come up in the next 10 years with 4 children! In all seriousness, we have gotten way ahead of ourselves in the planning for these triplets. We’ve done lots of research on the internet; starting reading books…we’ve already been talking to another couple who has triplets (more on them later). One of the first things Melissa found on the internet is that, with triplets, the Mom is expected to gain 60-80 pounds. Holy s*&^*!! Are you kidding me? That’s like gaining a 10 year old! This information sent Melissa into a total panic. At 7 ½ weeks, she had only gained 3 pounds. 3 down, 57+ to go! Well, it turns out that the doctor wants her to gain 50-60 pounds. That’s seems more achievable than 60-80, but still, that’s a lot of eating over the next 6 months or so.

Speaking of the next 6 months, another obvious question that we had for the doctor was the due date, and how long she should actually expect to go. Well, the official due date is Feb 26th, 2011, but obviously she won’t make it that long. On average, mothers of triplets deliver at 32 weeks. That’s just an average of course. Factors such as the woman’s pre-pregnancy weight, previous child births, the woman’s age, the woman’s physical condition, her activity level throughout the pregnancy, her total weight gain, etc all have an impact on the term of the pregnancy. All things considered, we are hopeful that Melissa can make it to 34 weeks. That’s the goal. And when I say goal, I mean everything that Melissa and I do for the next 6 months has an objective of getting her to 34 weeks. The longer the babies stay in there, the better! So, 34 weeks is January 15th. As an aside, 34 weeks is not only the goal, it’s actually considered full term for triplets. Multiples actually mature quicker in the womb than singletons do…I guess it’s the body’s way of knowing that 40 weeks is not realistic so they really do develop quicker. They are still really tiny, but they do develop quicker.