When Jason and Brittany Deen of Sacramento discussed having a family, they decided to have one baby, maybe two.
"Three, we agreed, was too many," Jason Deen, said, grinning today as he held two of his three triplet sons in the maternity ward at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento.
The boys, born last Thursday, have not only shaken up the Deens' family plans, but have caused a stir by tentatively breaking a world's record for birth weight for triplets.
Sidney weighed in at a whopping 7 pounds, 8 ounces, while his fraternal brother Elliott tipped the scales at 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and Jenson squeaked by at 5 pounds, 5 ounces. The boys' total weight of 20 pounds means they have a shot at getting in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Brittany, who conceived the boys naturally, was determined to carry her triplets to full term, and ate about 6,000 calories a day to keep the babies fed and healthy.
At 37 weeks, the boys were delivered by C-section.
Under the direction of Sutter Memorial's Moms of Multiples Center, or MOMs, Brittany learned how to eat for four, including consuming a dozen eggs a day, and eating full meals every two hours.
She attended weekly classes and appointments to learn about the physical, as well as the psychological, impacts of having triplets.
"Being a mom of a multiple birth is really scary," said Brittany, 32, an oncology nurse at UC Davis Medical Center. "You hear of complications and challenges. I hope that seeing me and hearing about my positive experience will inspire other mothers not to be scared, and will help others to realize they're not alone."
The hospital recorded the birth weights and the family is submitting paperwork to Guinness for verification. They would beat out a North Carolina couple who had triplets weighing a total of 18 pounds, 11 ounces, in 2011.
Brittany started a blog, JasonandBrittanyDeen@blogspot.com, to journal her pregnancy and delivery.
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