The Name of the Game: WEIGHT GAIN

Everyone keeps directing me to the pictures of the CA octuplet mom right before she gave birth. Those pictures scare me just a little as you will see why. Right now I don’t look like I swallowed an exercise ball. Not yet at least…
Much of the conventional wisdom about pregnancy goes out the window with multiples. One of the biggest, no pun intended, differences is the amount of weight that should be gained. Not only is the amount of weight greater but the pounds have to be packed on more quickly than with a single pregnancy because the pregnancy is shorter (average gestation is 31-32 weeks).
That being said, the magic weight gain goal for triplet moms is…
58-75 lbs

And the recommended way to do this is through 4,000 calories per day consisting of 200 grams of protein, 400 grams of carbohydrates and 178 grams of fat.

When I first found this out, I thought it was a joke. My doctor told me that I could TRY to maintain my normal mostly vegetarian non-dairy diet but I’d probably have a hard time getting enough calories and the range of nutrients, particularly dairy. Therefore, I’m back to the Wisconsin diet of meat, butter and cheese. I just skip the beer part. I forgot how good bagels are with butter AND cream cheese.
This is the first and last time I’m going to give actual numbers of my gain. And don’t try getting it out of Rich because he is not a good source. A couple of years ago I told him I weighed 214 pounds and he thought that sounded right even though that was about 80 pounds off.
At my 12 week visit I gained 13 lbs
My weight gain at 12 weeks should have been 18-24 lbs. My doctor admitted that it is hard to gain the weight in the first trimester because of morning sickness so I kind of got a pass on that lecture. I got into trouble later when she remembered that I didn’t have any morning sickness so now I’m drinking high protein nutritional supplements (Ensure or Boost) twice a day between meals to make up for the slow start.
Thanks to everyone (mostly men) for the sample 4000 calorie a day diets but don’t forget, my diet has to EXCLUDE alcohol.
I have to say, many people have expressed extreme envy that I was given a free pass to eat as often, as much and whatever I want. It’s not all that it is cracked up to be when you have three wiggling babies in there competing for space. Most of what I eat ends up producing extreme heartburn which takes the fun out of it. And making yourself eat when you are still full from the last meal is no picnic. I have much more sympathy for those ducks being force feed corn to fatten their livers. If I was a character in the Simpson’s cartoon, at the end of this I’ve have produced pounds of foie gras rather than 3 babies.
Before I got pregnant I lived on hummus, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese food. You couldn’t pay me enough to eat any of that now. I almost lost it at Whole Foods today when I saw a big tub of hummus put out for samples. Now all I want to eat is brisket, mac n’cheese, spinach and sweet potatoes. Believe it or not, it is completely exhausting trying to keep up with this diet. Some days I feel like I lost more calories in the hunting and gathering of my meals that I gain in eating.
I joke about it, but in reality it is pretty serious business. For example, research shows that if triplet moms gain at least 36 lbs by week 24, the babies are born a half pound heavier than mom who didn’t gain this weight. This half pound can be pretty significant in premature babies. I may be making this up because I can’t the reference again, but I seem to remember reading that more weight gain equals longer gestation. So I said the name of game was weight gain but really the name of the game is to keep those babies in as long as possible.
I go back on Thursday for another sonogram and what I call “The Weigh In” so we will see if my performance has improved. If not, the next step is to wear a watch that beeps at 90 minute intervals and eat something every time the watch beeps. I’m sure Rich has a few extra sweaty running watches around that I can borrow. Ironic how that same watch will have different uses.

By the way, Rich ran a 3:20 marathon and Isaac and I broke our record and saw him 8 different times during the race. We could have really smashed our record but we had to stop for a bathroom break and the sweaty runner smell was making me sick so we had to alter our route a little. This was our third year racing around Austin in a car trying to find Rich amidst all the runners. Next year Isaac and I talked about biking instead, pulling a 3 baby bike stroller. Rich is already trying to figure out if such a thing exists. And I will be the one pulling the stroller, I'll need to lose those 75 pounds.