A woman has given birth to rare identical quadruplets, a feat so uncommon that doctors say the odds of conceiving them naturally are about one in 15 million. Jenitar, who is now a mother of eight, gave birth to four daughters — Emily, Harriet, Alexa and Catherine — on July 14 in Brisbane, Australia.
High-Risk Pregnancy
All four babies were delivered by C-section at 28 weeks during what medical officials described as an extremely high-risk pregnancy. The quadruplets are known as monozygotic quadruplets, meaning one fertilized egg split into four embryos.
According to Dr. Alexa Bendal, a maternal fetal medicine specialist and obstetrician at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, the odds of this occurrence are extremely low. “Monozygotic quadruplets are estimated at one in every 15 million pregnancies, but for all four babies to share the same placenta, this is unheard of,” said Dr. Bendal.
The rare quadruplets will spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit until they reach full term, but medical officials say all four are currently doing “extremely well.”
Original reporting: WPBF (Treasure Coast / Hearst) — read the source article.
