An Australian woman has given birth to rare, naturally-conceived identical quadruplets. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.
Jenitar Na'amoana, 34, and her husband Jortham already have four children. They were taken by "immense surprise" when told to expect quadruplets. The babies were delivered via caesarean section at 28 weeks and four days on 14 July. They are monozygotic quadruplets — a single fertilised egg split into four embryos.
Dr Alexa Bendall, who cared for the mother from the start of her pregnancy, estimated identical quadruplets occur "at one in every 15 million pregnancies" and said "but to share the same placenta — this is unheard of".
Bendall said such a pregnancy was very high-risk, with the hospital admitting Na'amoana as an inpatient at 25 weeks. "We always said that if we could get her to 28 weeks, we would be doing well. So the fact that we've got four beautiful, healthy babies born at 28 weeks and four days is incredible," she added.
The newborn girls have been named Emily, Harriet, Catherine, and also Alexa, after Dr Alexa Bendall. The babies will stay in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit until they grow to full term and are "currently doing extremely well".
The mother has launched an online fundraising campaign to help buy a van with at least 10 seats. It has already received over A$37,000 (£19,261) in donations. Na'amoana wrote: "Our four precious miracles have arrived safely, and while our hearts are overflowing with gratitude, the reality of caring for four newborns at once has brought challenges we never could have imagined."
Naturally conceived quadruplets are extremely rare, with doctors estimating the odds at about one in 700,000 births.