Parents find that twins are double joy not double trouble
Jun 26 2010 by Diane Parkes, Birmingham Mail
FOR many people twins spell double trouble but they are double joy for families who meet every week at a baby and toddlers’ club.
Birmingham Twins Club, which holds its group every Tuesday morning at Maypole Methodist Church, provides parents with the chance to swop experiences – and children the chance to play.
Mum Louise Waller, of Stirchley, said the group was a real help. With 21-month-old twins Adella and Levi, the 29-year-old teacher admitted life could sometimes be a challenge.
“It has been invaluable because you are with other people who understand what you are talking about,” she said. “You have to be really organised with twins, although still allowing for things to not always go to plan.
“I don’t think you get any sleep at all.” Louise and partner Levi Dandy, also 29 and a teacher, were given the news that they were expecting twins at their first scan.
“When they told us it was really great news,” she said.
“There are certain costs you can’t avoid but you can do quite a bit and we did our shopping a bit at a time.
“But it is lovely seeing them grow up together. They babble back and forth and seem to understand each other. They love being together.”
For Emma Canning and her 42-year-old husband Mark, who is unemployed, the news they were having twins was a shock.
“It is the only time I have seen my husband speechless,” said Emma. “But I did suspect it as we have twins in the family.”
The couple, from Kings Heath, are now proud parents of four children, seven-year-old Matthew, five-year-old Daniel and twins Sophie and Hannah who are two.
“I went back to work as a teacher after the first two children but it wasn’t viable after the twins,” said 39-year-old Emma. “To pay for all the childcare would have been too much.”
Sam Parry and her husband Chris, a 30-year-old regional installation manager, were given the news they were having twins just two days before the couple were due to be married.
“We were so busy I don’t think it actually sunk in until during the honeymoon,” said Sam, a 27-year-old practice nurse from Shirley.
“We are lucky as we have so much help from our parents. I don’t know how we would manage without them.
And having 20-month-old Jacob and Oliver is a daily delight for their parents.
“It is a lovely experience having twins,” said Sam. “They are completely different in temperament and I am really looking forward to watching them as they grow up.”
