Some people say it can be attributed to the amount of yams people eat in Squamish. Others says it's the age factor.
Or is it just something in the water? Marcia Kent joked.
Whatever the actualities, the full-time nurse was surprised by the reaction she received when she formed the Sea to Sky Multiples group. Still in its first year, the support group for parents with twins, triplets and everything beyond is now comprised of 40 families.
It is kind of a crazy amount of people, she said, adding that most of the children are under the age of five.
Kent's twin sons are three years old. On a good day it's a perfect storm. On a bad day well, Kent explained, she got her first cavity after her sons' birth.
You're lucky if you get time to brush your teeth.
The number of twins and multiple births in Canada has been on the increase over the past 25 years. Between 1991 and 2009, the number of twin live births per 1,000 jumped from 20 to 31.4, said Negar Elmieh, a life sciences professor at Quest University.
Women are tending to wait to start families, she said, adding studies indicate older women are more likely to have twins.
Each year more than 6,000 sets of twins are born in Canada, according to Statistics Canada. Records from 2011 state that there are more than 125,000 multiple-birth children across the nation under the age of 13 and 50,000 under the age of six.
Squamish's community makeup reveals clues to its seemingly high number of multiple births, said Kimberley Weatherall, the acting executive director for Multiple Births Canada. The community boasts a young and educated population with the median age five years below that of Metro Vancouver. Nearly half of Squamish residents are under the age of 40.
They're probably two-income households with people having kids later, Weatherall noted. Fertility treatments account for between 35-45 per cent of all multiple pregnancies, she said.
Squamish's multiples explosion could be a mirage of perception. People notice twins, remember them and talk about them, Weatherall said. One only has to look to Hollywood's royals to see people's fascination with multiples Brad-Angela, Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lopez.
Along with the good press comes the bad. There are stigmas surrounding fertility drugs. Having used fertility aids, Kent felt the sting of such judgment. Besides the multiples group, she also heads the Squamish Fertility Network for parents who went through or are going through treatment.
Sea to Sky Multiples and Squamish Fertility Network can be found on Facebook. The multiples group hosts separate nights for mothers and fathers of multiples. Before the end of the summer, Kent is planning a barbecue.
For more information on multiple births visit www.multiplebirthscanada.org.
