President’s Message
I come to you halfway through this club year from programming after our fearless leader, Sharon and her husband bravely took a job promotion to Reno. We wish them luck in all their adventures and we know she will do great thing for MoMs up north! My goals are to keep all the awesome things we have planned for the year on track and contribute more to our website. Another goal I would like to try and accomplish in the remainder of this club year is to form more sub-committees to encourage more club participation. As always, member input and suggestions are greatly appreciated. We would always love to hear how our club can help and encourage you through whatever stage of your journey you are in. – Courtney Cromer
LVMoMs Board of Directors
Jessica Paxton
President
Hey, there fellow twin parents. My name is Jessica and I am a mom to a set of boy/girl twins (or combo pack as I call it) born March of 2017. I am originally from Southern California, but work and family brought us here to Vegas in 2014. My husband, Rob, is a manager for Albertsons and I work full time for an exhibit house. We struggled with infertility and multiple miscarriages for 5 years before deciding to do IVF. We got very lucky and it took on the first round and even luckier that we got twins. Sort of that 2 for 1 deal that everyone always jokes about. My pregnancy was relatively smooth until the last trimester. At 31 weeks (and the day of my baby shower) I was admitted to Summerlin Hospitals antepartum unit for preeclampsia. Then at 32 weeks and 1 day they decided to do a c-section for the safety of all 3 of us. My twins were born at 3lbs 4oz & 4lbs 3oz. For the first 24 hours, I was on bedrest and I didn’t get to hold them until the next night, which was essentially torture for a new mom. They spent exactly 6 weeks in the NICU and luckily exited together, which isn’t always the case. I felt blessed that I had joined the Mothers of Multiples prior to giving birth as I had gained a wealth of knowledge and an amazing support system to help me through it all. You can read all the books, but meeting and becoming friends with moms who have been there is the best method of learning.
Jennifer Collier
VP Membership
Hello! I’m Jenn and my husband Carl and I live in south Las Vegas with our oldest son Cael and younger fraternal twin sons Kellan & Colton. I work full time from home billing for three eye doctors in town. All of our children were conceived through IVF. We love Dr. Daneshmand at the Fertility Center of Las Vegas! Cael was born in 2009 at 38 weeks by induced labor and emergency C section at Mountainview Hospital. Kellan and Colton were born in 2013 at 38 weeks via scheduled C section at Southern Hills Hospital. We were very fortunate to have relatively easy deliveries both times and great hospital experiences. I did however develop issues with postpartum depression after my pregnancies. LVMoMs has been a lifesaver for me. It has given me an outlet to share with others who have been down that same road. I joined LVMoMs in 2013 and served 3 years on the board as Secretary, 2 years as President and I’m on my 2nd year as Membership . I look forward to our MoMs events and so do my kids. I have made lifelong friends and look forward to making many more in the future. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any ideas for events or activities!
Courtney Cromer
Secretary
Hey MoMs, I’m Courtney and Mom to three wild and crazy boys. Austin is my older singleton born in 2007 at 40 weeks gestation by induced labor with no complications. He is in 8th grade this year and is still playing hockey. My fraternal twin boys, Mason and Ethan were born in 2014 at 38 weeks by a scheduled C-section at Southern Hills Hospital. While there were no complications with their births, Mason was born with a profound hearing loss in one ear and was later diagnosed and had surgery to correct pyloric stenosis at about 5 weeks old. After what we call his “rough patch” he has thrived fantastically into a bouncy, impatient, funny, talkative, loveable, stinky boy. Ethan is the cuddle bug of the family (thank God I got at least one). You can always count on him for a quick hug and kiss before he wanders off to explore something. With the twins now in school full time I have found myself gravitating to where they are. So this year I volunteered to be President of the PTO at their school.
It took me some time to break out of the “survival mode” of parenting multiples and start participating with the club and I am so glad I did. It has been a great way to make sure I schedule some much needed ME time and it has provided the boys with a fantastic way to socialize more in a comfortable non-judgmental environment.
Sarah Ko
Ways and Means VP
Hi, I’m Sarah. I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii and moved to Las Vegas in 2011. I am a stay-at-home-mommy to two beautiful girls, Sophia & Olivia, who were born in 2016. I didn’t find out I was carrying twins until my 20 weeks checkup and it was on April Fool’s Day. My girls were born a week earlier than my scheduled c-section because I had preeclampsia. Luckily, my girls and I had no complications and the three of us left the hospital together. We had issues with latching when I first started to breastfeed them. We supplemented with formula at first, but continued to latch them as much as possible. Eventually, my girls got the hang of it, and I was able to breastfeed them until they self weened at 14 months old. My twins are identical, but they are so opposite in personality. Sophia is definitely a leader who marches to the beat of her own drum. She is my more reserved child and likes to take care of others. Olivia is my firecracker, who keeps me on my toes. She is very competitive and passionate about every little thing. Both girls are bilingual, speaking Korean and English. They love to paint, read books, and sing songs. I joined LVMOMs when I was pregnant with my girls, but did not attend my first meeting until the girls were 3 months old. It took me awhile to actively participate in the group because of my high anxiety and post-partum depression. Because of this group and the amazing mommy friends that I have made, I was able to overcome a lot of my anxiousness. It was so reassuring to have other veteran moms with multiples who understood what I was going through. I hope to pass on my knowledge and experiences with soon-to-be moms!
Kirsten Lucas
VP Programming
Hello my name is Kirsten and have been with MoMs since 2019. I was born and raised in Denver Colorado, move out to Vegas in 2016 to be with my husband. I am a stay at home mom to my twin boys who are 14 months old; their names are Zakari and Zayden. I had a rough pregnancy at 24 weeks I was but on bedrest at home and by the time I got to 26 weeks I was put in the hospital on bed rest due to an insufficient cervix. I spent in total 44 days on bed rest until my twins came early at 30 weeks. My twins were born via emergency c section at Mountain View Hospital and spent 7 weeks in there NICU. Zayden was able to come home first but unfortunately Zakari tuckered out on feeding and had to stay 2 extra days. It is one of the hardest things to have to leave your twins at the hospital and then having to bring one home then bring the other twin home shortly thereafter. If I can help you with any advice on NICU or bedrest, please feel free to reach out to me. I have really enjoyed being apart of this club and having mothers in similar situation to reach out to. This club helped to figure life with kids and gave me a place to take a break and have a night out with other moms.
Christine Moebius
National Rep
Hello there, my name is Christine Moebius. I am originally from Temecula, California (Southern California Wine Country) and moved to Las Vegas in 2014 after my husband separated for the United States Marine Corps, Semper Fi!
I am a mother to a set of boy/girl twins, who were born December 15, 2019 at 34 weeks. Harmony weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs. & 9 oz. and Hudson was 4 lbs. & 13 oz. My husband is also a fraternal twin, so we were both very surprised to find out that we were having twins, as the rumor has it… we thought twins skipped a generation.
The twins were in the NICU for approximately 2 weeks, which felt like a lifetime. Pregnancy and delivery were somewhat traumatic for any expecting and new mother but has made me even more grateful of how our bodies are able to handle so much to bring life into this world. I spent 4 months on maternity leave before going back to work full-time but was able to stay-at-home more often due to the pandemic, which was a blessing in disguise.
I was struggling to continue to exclusively pump, as well as, trying to juggle motherhood and my career which led to some heavy post-partum depression. So, I decided to put myself out there and join the Las Vegas Mothers of Multiples at 3 months post-partum in hopes to find acquaintances, little did I expect to find such great support and such a well-rounded group of twin parents who actually get me!
I am so eager to join you all again this year and I am looking forward to meeting each and every one of you! I am hopeful through this fellowship that we can all share life and motherhood experiences and be there for each other to support and lift each other up!