Save me from car seat h-e-double-hockey-sticks!

So, our babysitter Michelle has a Volkswagen Jetta. It's a very cute little car, but it is proving to be very inconvenient for us, as we prepare to welcome Baby No. 3 into our family. Darn tiny German cars!!

Here's the issue:

When Curve Ball gets here, we will need to fit three car seats in her car, for the times when she has to take all three kids somewhere (probably not often), and especially for when the boys start preschool in the fall and she has to pack up Curve Ball to go pick them up. (It's a half-day program).

Right now, she has the boys still in their infant seats -- rear-facing. But they'll obviously need to move to convertible seats ASAP. We already bought two for our own car. We have been holding off on purchasing two more for her car, until we could figure out how we would possibly get three car seats in the back of her car. But it's getting down to the wire. We have to make a decision and start ordering soon.

Michelle's backseat is only about 46 or 47 inches across.

Even with our slightly wider CRV, we still had to buy a whole new vehicle to be able to accommodate three car seats. As great as she is to us, I don't think Michelle is buying a minivan anytime soon.

So I've been researching "narrow car seats" on the Internets. My head is spinning from all the research! So far, what I've found is that parents and reviewers alike all say the Sunshine Kids Radian seats are the narrowest on the market, and still very safe. Many parents even say you can fit three of them across in the back of a mid-sized car. I was so excited to read that (all my problems solved!), until I realized that:

1) We need to fit two convertible car seats and one infant seat/carrier in the back. Looking at the dimensions of all three, the math will never, ever work. Even when I do my version of math, which is fuzzy to say the least.
2) The least expensive Radian is more than $200. The one everyone seems to say is the narrowest is $300!!! And we have to buy two of 'em!! Maybe three of 'em!! (See point number 3).
3) To make this work, we may have to put Curve Ball in a convertible seat from birth, so we can fit three across. Is this even safe? I am so used to seeing my babies all snug in their plush infant carrier seats, I cringe at the thought of a tiny baby in a big ole tall, industrial-looking convertible seat.
4) Also, we were not planning on buying a stroller for a while; instead we intend to just use the Snap 'n Go. That means we need to have an infant carrier to snap in it! You cannot snap a convertible car seat in a Snap 'n Go, people! So if we do end up having to buy Curve Ball a convertible seat, that also means having to buy a darn stroller! Mo money, mo money, MO MONEY!
5) Even with all this rumination, I still am not 100-percent positive that any of these scenarios will work to fit three seats in her specific car, because you really have to physically try them out to make sure. Which means ordering a bunch of million-dollar seats to test them. And then what happens if they don't work? Can you send them back? URGH!
6) All this needs to be figured out really really soon, as we will need the infant car seat currently in Michelle's car to bring Curve Ball home from the hospital, leaving her with only one car seat for the boys. And as previous posts have discussed, CB's arrival could be sooner rather than later. We just don't know.

As I said: me = head spinning!!!

I am going to post all the pertinent dimensions here for any blogfriends who are scientifically (ahem, LauraC!) or mathematically (ahem E. Wiley!) inclined, to see if any of you have ideas. Or anyone else for that matter. I'll take any and all solutions. I am starting to have nightmares about car seats!

Here goes:

Michelle's backseat = 47 inches across total
Each bucket-y type seat is 18 inches wide. The mid section is 11 inches.

Both the Sunshine Kids Radian 80SL (less expensive, but still not cheap) and the Sunshine Kids XTSL (mega-expensive) appear to have these dimensions: 16 x 17 x 28.5
(We're front-facing them now, even though they're not quite 2.)

Our Graco 35 infant car seat has dimensions of: 15.6 x 18.7 x 30.7 (Keep in mind this is rear-facing, FYI.)
The base of the Graco 35 has dimensions of : 17.13 x 9.45 x 23.46

I'm imagining putting the two convertible seats on either side of the Graco, with the Graco in the middle, as the middle is the safest part, no? But I'm not opposed to positioning them some other way, if that way works better.

Any advice???

Thanks.

Signed,

Considering strapping one kid to the roof if I have to
Baltimore, Md.