Australian mother delivers identical quadruplet girls at Brisbane hospital

A 34-year-old mother from Queensland delivered identical quadruplet girls at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital on July 14. The babies resulted from a single fertilized egg that split into four, a phenomenon the attending maternal-fetal specialist said is estimated to occur in roughly one in 15 million natural pregnancies and may be the first such case recorded in Australia.

The mother, Jenitar Sau Na’amoana, who already has four children, was admitted for inpatient monitoring at 25 weeks gestation and gave birth by cesarean section at 28 weeks and four days. She experienced only modest blood loss and is reported to be recovering well.

"We are very excited to be able to care for this amazing little family, a big family now," said Dr. Alexa Bendall, the specialist who oversaw the pregnancy.

"The fact that we’ve got four beautiful, healthy babies born at 28 weeks and four days is incredible," Bendall added, noting the infants are now in the neonatal intensive care unit and doing well.

Experts note that natural conception of quadruplets is extremely rare, with a general probability of about one in 700,000, and most multiple births involve assisted reproductive technologies. The babies—named Emily, Harriet, Catherine and Alexa—were given their names in part as a tribute to Dr. Bendall.