Woman Gives Birth to Monozygotic Quadruplets at Brisbane Hospital

Jenitar Na'amoana, 34, delivered four identical daughters by caesarean section at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Queensland on July 14. The infants were born at 28 weeks and four days gestation after a pregnancy that developed from a single fertilized egg that split into four embryos sharing one placenta.

Na'amoana had been admitted to hospital at 25 weeks gestation for monitoring, with doctors targeting delivery at 28 weeks.

Maternal foetal medicine specialist Dr Alexa Bendall, who oversaw the care, said the shared placenta raised the risk of mortality and morbidity for both mother and children. Bendall stated the odds of such a pregnancy stand at roughly one in 15 million. “This is unheard of. We don’t think it has ever happened in Australia,” she said.

The babies, named Emily, Harriet, Catherine and Alexa, remain in the neonatal intensive care unit. Hospital staff said the infants are doing extremely well and are expected to stay until they approach full term. One infant was named Alexa after Dr Bendall.

Na'amoana and her husband already had four children aged between one and ten years old. She launched a GoFundMe campaign that GB News reported had raised more than A$37,000 to cover costs including a 10- or 12-seat van, medical expenses, travel, living costs and baby equipment.