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A Brisbane woman has given birth to identical quadruplets – an extremely rare “one in 15 million” event – with doctors saying the pregnancy could be an Australian first.
Jenitar Sau Na’amoana, 34, was raising four young children and had not planned another child with her husband Jortham when she naturally fell pregnant with the quadruplets.
Dr Alexa Bendall, a fetal medicine specialist and obstetrician at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, cared for Na’amoana throughout the pregnancy.
She said the now mum-of-eight handled the news well, taking “everything in her stride from day one”.
This included acknowledging the high-risk nature of a quadruplet pregnancy.
“Whenever you have a multiple pregnancy – which is usually twins, not quads – where the babies are sharing a placenta, there’s a very high risk of complications,” Bendall said.
“Babies can be growth-restricted … there can be a high risk of mortality and morbidity for these babies and for mum.
“So the fact that we’ve got four beautiful, healthy babies born at 28 weeks and four days is incredible, and we’re very happy to be apart of it.”
Monozygotic quadruplets – identical quadruplets split from one singular fertilised egg – are one of the rarest types of pregnancies in the world.
Adding to Na’amoana’s extraordinary odds was the fact that her quadruplets shared the same placenta.
“This is unheard of,” Bendall said.
“So four sacs, one placenta – we think the figures are about one in every 15 million for a case like this, to be spontaneously conceived. We don’t think it’s ever happened in Australia.
“There may have been a couple of cases elsewhere in the world, and when I say a couple, literally a couple; two. But this is the only case we know about in Australia.”
Na’amoana has been cared for by a team of experts at the RBWH since 10 weeks, and was admitted as an inpatient at 25 weeks for close monitoring due to the risk of pre-term birth.
The four girls – Emily, Harriet, Alexa and Catherine – were delivered by caesarean section on July 14. Alexa is named after Bendall.
“I’m incredibly honoured that they decided to name one of their girls after me,” she said.
The four babies are currently doing “extremely well” and will remain in the hospital’s specialist Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to grow to full term.
“We always said that is we could get her to 28 weeks, we would be doing well, so we are happy she could make it to this gestation,” Bendall said.
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