Club gives support to moms of twins

BE A MIXED BLESSING

FOR WENDY Vaisler, one of the joys of being the mother
of twins is seeing her 20-month-old boys curled up in bed

together, holding hands.

It’s one of those special mo-
ments that the members of the
Twins Club like to share ut their
monthly meetings.

There are plenty of problems,
unique to the parents of multiple
births, that only someone in a sim-
ilar situation can truly appreciate.

The members of this club, led at
this time by West Vancouverite
Vaisler, help each other with prob-
lems, but try to accentuate the pos-
itive aspects, too.

“‘There’s a special feeling that
moms of twins have. You’re pro-
ud. You've been given a wonderful
gift, and it’s a unique experience,”
explains Vaisler.

The North Shore-wide club,
which goes back 10 years or so,
has about 50 members listed, and
of that about 20 to 30 women (in-
cluding one mother of triplets)
show up to the monthly meetings.

For Vaisler, her ‘‘unique experi-
ence”’ started when she learned she
was pregnant with twins and
started to attend the Twins Club
meetings.

With two daughters already, it
was a good way for her to prepare
for what lay ahead for herself and

By MAUREEN CURTIS
Contributing Writer

her family.

Heather LeGresley also joined
when she was expecting her twin
boys, now 20 months.

“There can be lots of problems
ahead with the siblings at home,’’
says LeGresley, who also already
had two girls.

Caring for two infants, in-
cluding nursing, when one or more
of them may have sleeping prob-
lems can leave a mother with little
energy left for the rest of the fami-
ly.

Vaisler is finding times are easier
now, compared to when she had
“four under age four’? in the
house at one time.

Fortunately, her daughters were
maternally minded, and each took
a twin under her personal.wing.

“There was no arguing over who
got to hold the baby,’’ Vaisler
recails.

Mothers of twins discover inter-
esting ways of coping with their
See Twin
Page 46

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PAGE 47

NEWS photo Mike Wakefield
LIFE CAN be very interesting when you have four preschoolers — particularly when two of them were born on
the same day. Head of the North Shore Twins Club, Wendi Vaisler, is flanked by 20-month-old Ryan, left, and
Sean, right, as weil as 32-year-old Kelly, far left, and 52-year-old Shannen, far right.