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“We’re very happy to be a part of it,” said Dr. Alexa Bendall
NEED TO KNOW
- A 34-year-old mom from Australia made international news after welcoming identical quadruplets earlier this month
- The parents already had four children when they conceived the four babies naturally
- “Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude,” the new mom said
An Australian mom is celebrating the arrival of her rare quadruplet daughters — and becoming a parent of eight children!
Jenitar Na’amoana and her husband Jortham were already parents of four when they learned they’d conceived quadruplets without the help of fertility treatments, the BBC and 9News reported.
The parents, who hail from Brisbane, Queensland, said they were immensely surprised when they learned that Na’amoana was carrying monozygotic quadruplets, according to the outlets. The rare conception occurs after a single egg is fertilized and then divides four times.
Dr. Alexa Bendall, who oversaw the 34-year-old woman’s care at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, told the BBC that identical quadruplets happen in “one in every 15 million pregnancies,” but it’s “unheard of” for the babies to share the same placenta.
While it was considered a high-risk pregnancy, Na’amoana was able to carry the babies through 28 weeks with no complications.
She welcomed the babies — Emily, Harriet, Catherine and Alexa — via caesarean section at the hospital in Herston, Queensland, on Tuesday, July 14.
While mother and her babies are doing well, the preemies will stay at the NICU for several weeks as they grow stronger.
“Our four precious miracles have arrived safely,” Na’amoana wrote on a GoFundMe page created to help cover the cost of a large van, baby essentials and medical costs. “And while our hearts are overflowing with gratitude, the reality of caring for four newborns at once has brought challenges we never could have imagined.”
So far, the donation page has garnered more than $39,000 AUD (or more than $27,000 USD) as of Monday, July 20. The family and Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
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Their doctor said that what’s most important is that the babies were all born healthy.
“We always said that if we could get her to 28 weeks, we would be doing well,” Bendall told the BBC.
“So the fact that we’ve got four beautiful, healthy babies born at 28 weeks and four days is incredible,” the doctor continued, “and we’re very happy to be a part of it.”
Read the original article on People
