Kate Tipton from Tennessee, USA, gave birth to Luke, Stella and Jack at 34 weeks. She already had two older daughters, Aubrey Rose and Soph Ann, with husband Caleb.
The premature birth had concerned her doctor, who believed that the babies would come in underweight and need to be placed in the Intensive Care Unit.
However, the babies turned out to be the largest ever triplets recorded at the UT Medical Centre.
Jack, Stella and Luke Tipton weighed 7lbs 4oz, 6lbs 3oz, and 5lbs 9oz respectively.
But when the new parents got in contact with the Guinness Book Of World Records to find out where they ranked globally, they were told that they were just 3lbs shy of the overall title.
In 2004, a mother in California gave birth to triplets weighing 22 pounds, but Kate was glad she didn’t have to carry the extra weight.
Kate told WBIR: “I would stand up and you could literally hear my hips crack. They would make this noise. The sound of so much pressure on top and so much weight. It was difficult.”
Husband Caleb said he would have “cried everyday” if he had to put his body under the same pressure.
At just 21 weeks the mother-of-five started to go into labour, but the doctors performed emergency surgery, which halted the birth until 34 weeks.
The family now have to prepare 18 bottles a day, with over 100 ounces of formula, and take more than 30 minutes to arrange.