3 featured posts

I have been using the featured post code from the WordPress codex for a while, but now I want to have 3 featured posts on my blog. Here is the code I’m currently using: (from the codex)

<?php $my_query = new WP_Query(‘category_name=featured&showposts=1’);
while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post();
$do_not_duplicate = $post->ID; ?>

[Where I want to put the 3 featured posts]

<?php endwhile; ?>

Do other stuff here

<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post();
if( $post->ID == $do_not_duplicate ) continue; update_post_caches($posts); ?>
Where I want the rest of the featured posts, but ignore the first 3 featured posts that are presented at the top of the page
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>

I guess the obvious answer is that I need to store the 3 posts IDs in an array, but how do I do that?