‘One in 15 million’: Woman gives birth to identical quadruplets

Digital Editor

BRISBANE, QLD —

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.

All four babies were delivered by C-section at 28 weeks during what medical officials described as an extremely high-risk pregnancy.

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Jenitar, who already had four children ranging in age from 1 to 10, had not planned to have another child. She and her husband, Jortham, naturally conceived the quadruplets, which hospital officials called an “immense surprise,” according to a release from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

The quadruplets are known as monozygotic quadruplets, meaning one fertilized egg split into four embryos.

“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. Alexa Bendal, a maternal fetal medicine specialist and obstetrician at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Bendal has been caring for Jenitar since she discovered she was pregnant.

“Jenitar has taken everything in her stride from day one. We have never seen a spontaneously conceived pregnancy of this type with quads, and she has somehow dodged every complication and risk for both herself and her babies to be here today, with four gorgeous newborn girls,” Bendal said.

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.”