A woman in Australia delivered four identical girls through caesarean section on 14 July at 28 weeks and four days of gestation at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. The quadruplets were naturally conceived monozygotic quadruplets, meaning they developed from a single fertilised egg that split into four embryos.
The mother, 34-year-old Jenitar Na’amoana, and her husband already had four other children between one and 10 years old when they received the unexpected diagnosis. Dr Alexa Bendall, a maternal foetal medicine specialist and obstetrician who managed the pregnancy, noted that identical quadruplets are estimated to occur at one in every 15 million pregnancies. She further highlighted that the shared placenta among the quadruplets is extraordinarily uncommon. The high-risk pregnancy required the mother to be admitted to the hospital as an inpatient at 25 weeks for continuous monitoring.
Dr Bendall stated that reaching 28 weeks of gestation was a significant milestone for the pregnancy. She credited the mother with navigating the pregnancy successfully, noting she “has somehow dodged every complication and risk for both herself and her babies.” The four girls were named Emily, Harriet, Catherine, and Alexa, with the final name chosen as a tribute to Dr Bendall.
The newborn quadruplets are currently residing in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit and are described as doing extremely well. The parents have launched an online fundraising campaign to purchase a vehicle with at least 10 seats to accommodate their expanded family. The campaign had received over A$37,000 in donations, with the mother noting in an accompanying message that while grateful for the safe arrival of the four infants, the family faces unprecedented challenges in caring for four newborns simultaneously.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI