Australia has welcomed a set of identical quadruplets after an 28‑week caesarean section—an event that arrived at a rate of one in 700,000 births.
Four girls were delivered on 14 July by the team at Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. Reported as a “very high‑risk” pregnancy, the babies arrived fifteen days early, sharing a single placenta.
Jenitar Na'amoana, 34, and her husband Jortham had already known four children. They were stunned when doctors confirmed a monozygotic quadruplet pregnancy.
Dr Alexa Bendall, the maternal‑fetal medicine specialist, said such pregnancies occur “at one in every 15 million” and have never shared the same placenta.
Na'amoana was admitted at 25 weeks for close monitoring. “If we could get her to 28 weeks we would be doing well,” Bendall said. “Getting four healthy babies at 28 + 4 days is incredible.”
The newborns—Emily, Harriet, Catherine and Alexa (named after Dr Bendall)—are currently in the neonatal intensive care unit but are “extremely well,” the doctor added.
The family is raising funds to purchase a 10‑seat van. Over A$37 000 has already donated.
On 8 July, Na'amoana wrote: “Our four precious miracles have arrived safely, and caring for them has stretched our imagination.”
Medical experts cite the odds of naturally conceived identical quadruplets at about 1 in 700,000 births.
