Identical quadruplet girls born prematurely in Brisbane hospital

A 34-year-old mother gave birth to four identical baby girls at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital on a gestational age of 28 weeks and four days. The infants, named Emily, Harriet, Catherine and Alexa, resulted from a single fertilised egg that split into four embryos, sharing one placenta. Obstetrician Dr. Alexa Bendall said the occurrence is estimated at roughly one in every 15 million spontaneously conceived pregnancies and may be the first such case recorded in Australia. The babies are being cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit and are reported to be stable. The mother and her husband, who already have four children aged between one and ten, welcomed the quadruplets last week.