Double trouble multiplies family joy

SEEING double four times over is the name of the game at St John of God Hospital Bendigo, this week.Despite the inevitable juggle, maternity unit manager Shirley Lechmere could not be happier.She is grandmother to one of the four sets of twins born on her watch since last Thursday.Charlie and Maggie, along with Harrison and Tahlia, Jamie Lee and Carla and Jackson and Thomas smashed all records with their arrival in the same week.Six of the eight babies were born in the hospital and one set arrived a little too quickly, they were born at Kyneton before being transferred yesterday.St John of God Hospital has about 375 births a year, but the most sets of twins in the hospital at the same time, until now, had been two.Ms Lechmere said all the twins were healthy and strong."We pride ourselves on holistic care," Ms Lechmere said."We offer prenatal and antenatal classes for parents, right up to care for babies three months old."But, she warned, double trouble is only just starting."We do have more mothers having twins booked in this year," she said."So the numbers are rising."