The kind of support she needed as a new parent

Jen started her family when most of her friends already had older kids.

Soon after graduating from school, Jen and her partner moved across country to live closer to her family. When Jen went in for her first ultrasound, this surprise baby came with another big surprise – two babies! The move, the new jobs, and now the babies were a lot of adjustment, as they would be for any new expecting parent. But it was in the middle of her pregnancy that Jen lost her mother to cancer. Just months before, her grandfather had also died. The family she had moved to be near, was not there for her anymore.

Community Connection: A PEPS Partnership supports Parents of Twins

Seattle Families of Multiples (SFOM) is a local organization that supports families of multiples. SFOM is a PEPS Network partner and offers PEPS Groups called Providing Early Multiples Support (PEMS) Groups for their families, including a modified curriculum for their meeting discussion topics.

Newly married and filled with the prospect of becoming a mother to two little ones, Jen researched a little about parent support. She had seen PEPS materials at her OB clinic. But she quickly forgot about PEPS until she had her two beautiful girls and joined a PEMS Group that was offered as part of her membership in the Seattle Families of Multiples organization.

You may have heard of SFOM – they are a small, local organization with a fabulous consignment sale. It seems like everyone with little ones will make plans to get to that sale where SFOM members can easily sell the extra stroller or two they have! But they are also a support organization serving 400+ local families with twins, triplets, or more, and just a few years ago, they started working with PEPS to adapt the format and curriculum to meet the needs of new parents of multiples.

Jen’s group had 9 moms and 18 babies. Jen really needed the advice of those whose twins were just a little older than hers. And she learned that you have to forgive yourself when you are successfully soothing one cranky baby, but you can’t get to the other at that exact moment.

“Without my mom to call with questions about breastfeeding or to talk about how we were not getting any sleep, I really needed something that was non-judgmental and just a place to be with other parents who knew what I was going through.”

“At one point, my girls were starting to go up stairs and I didn’t know how to approach it safely with the two of them. One mom said, I have them push backwards on their stomachs [to teach them how to go back down].’ It was just one of those great, but simple, ideas that I just didn’t think of myself. We continue to support each other as our kids have grown from infants to toddlers, this support from parents specifically with multiples, has been, and continues to be invaluable”.

These kinds of partnerships are one way that PEPS is bringing parent support to more and more families.

When you support PEPS financially, you are helping us create groups for parents – and partnerships in the community.

Thank you for helping us grow our connections and our purpose!

Resources

• Make a gift to PEPS to support our work reaching new families.
• Find PEMS groups at SFOM or find a PEPS Group.
• Find out more about the PEPS Network Groups.
• Interested in becoming a PEPS Network partner? Let us know!