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The twins of Teton Valley
Photos by Emily Nichols
(page 1 of 2)
Whether you’re in the local grocery store, out on the slopes, or at the library for children’s story hour, you may suddenly think you’re seeing double. Not to worry—it’s just another set of the valley’s twins.
A lot of people suspect that Teton Valley’s rate of twinning is unusually high. But it’s hard to say whether we’re truly above average or just headed in the same direction as the rest of the country.
“The twinning rate has been relatively stable in the U.S. for the last few years,” says local pediatrician Dr. Travis Riddell. “It rose dramatically from 1980 through 2004, but it has been relatively stable, at around thirty-two twins per thousand live births, since then. Since few babies are actually born in Teton Valley, it’s hard to track down the data to determine what’s actually happening here.”
The valley’s relatively small population may somehow make the twin count seem high. Or, an age factor might be at work: The chances of having twins increase alongside the mother’s age, and our community may have a higher-than-average maternal age. Twin rates have also risen in the past thirty years nationally due to the upsurge in fertility treatments.
Regardless of the rate, any influx of multiples certainly brings fun and adventure to the daily regime of the lucky parents, who quickly recognize that twins develop special bonds. “Having a ready-made, nearly constant companion likely helps with development, particularly in terms of social, emotional, and cognitive skills,” Riddell says, adding: “Although current science has no way to prove this, I think there is some truth to the idea that twins can have shared perception, or possibly even ‘supernatural’ communication between each other.”
Here we introduce just a few of Teton Valley’s twins—with or without supernatural powers.
Training for Twins: Barb and Loren Lindquist
Children: Bjorn and Zane, almost five years
Coach and former Olympic triathlete Barb Lindquist says that when she found out she was pregnant with twins, she laughed—and cried.
“Loren and I had joked for years about how awesome it would be to have twins, because we were starting a family later in life,” she recalls. “I went to Jackson for that first appointment by myself, thinking it was just a formality to confirm I was pregnant. They took a picture of the kidney-bean-looking Baby A, then Baby B, then Baby A and B together.”
Barb returned from her initial visit and showed Loren the images of Baby A and Baby B separately and then handed him the “big picture,” with the two embryos nestled together. “He threw his head back and laughed,” she says.
Barb says after digesting the news the thought of having twins didn’t intimidate the couple; they were more excited than nervous. They could handle anything, she says, knowing that she could work from home, Loren was semi-retired, and they had a wonderful community of “aunties” from their church.
She and Loren, who was also Barb’s coach when she was training fulltime, didn’t know any other families with twins when they found out they’d be raising a set of their own. Since bringing their sons into the world, however, they’ve discovered an extensive and supportive twin community in Teton Valley.
Barb advises parents-to-be of twins: “Don’t let others make you feel like it is going to be impossible to raise twins. The first eighteen months are a blur, but after that it’s much easier to have twins than kids [fairly] close in age—you are on the same learning path, the same size clothes, the same toys.”
Barb says Bjorn and Zane are close friends, sharing life’s experiences in a way that many siblings do not. They love to interact with one another, imagining and playing. But also, just like most siblings, they have their squabbles and frustrations with each other. And Barb says their fraternal twins didn’t develop their own “language,” as many twin families report, but Zane did help interpret when Bjorn was hard to understand.
“Sometimes when we couldn’t figure out what Bjorn was saying, we would ask Zane, and he would know every time,” Barb says.
Taking the Adoption Path: August and Aaron Christensen
Children: Olive June and Lily May, seven months
August and Aaron Christensen adopted their identical twin girls in April 2011, bringing Olive and Lily home to grow together as a family in Teton Valley.
“It is actually very rare to adopt twins,” August says. “There was a small check box on the application [asking] if we were interested in twins.”
The Christensens checked that box, and a year later they were approached by the adoption agency, asking if their parent profile could be shown to a birth mom who would be having twin girls. “I said, ‘Twin girls? Absolutely, how could we say no to twin girls!’” August recalls. “And Aaron said, ‘I don’t know—two?’ We ended up agreeing in the end, of course, and were chosen by that birth mom a week later.”
Parenting two children of the same age can be taxing, especially in the early months of life. August explains that her biggest apprehensions about becoming a mother of twins were questioning her ability to feed them, and the lack of sleep she knew she’d have to deal with. For her husband, the thought of parenting two at the same time simply seemed daunting.
As the Christensen family finds its rhythm, August acknowledges that she has found it hard to get out of the house. “I am busy all the time, given that one may be awake while the other is sleeping,” she says. “This is an ongoing routine throughout the day.”
Her advice to other parents of twins: “Have lots of food brought to you! It helps to have a support system like family and friends around you and to build a small network with the other twin families in the valley to share stories. Nurse them if you can, because bottles/formula are so much work and money.”
As they navigate toward calmer waters, the Christensens appreciate and enjoy their growing family and watching their girls become best friends.
“Lily and Olive do like to play with each other,” August says; “... grunt, look at each other, and swing their arms in each other’s faces. They also like to sleep next to each other and don’t mind being squished together. Oh, and when one cries, the other starts in, too, even when they were happy as can be!”
