Identical quadruplets born at Máxima Medical Center in extremely rare natural pregnancy

Identical quadruplets have been born at the Máxima Medical Center, the Noord-Brabant hospital announced. The birth of naturally conceived identical quadruplets is extremely rare and exceptional, the hospital said.

The babies are four boys, Adam, Amir, Hassan, and Hussein, who were delivered at 29 weeks' gestation. Their father said they are all doing well. The family, originally from Gambia, has been living in the Netherlands for a little over a year and also has a daughter.

Máxima Medical Center said the Caesarean section involved a large multidisciplinary team, with gynecologists, anesthesiologists, and surgical staff in the operating room. In addition, each of the four babies had a dedicated medical team made up of a doctor and a nurse.

The father is Lamin F. Saidykhan. Lamin shared that a major emotional highlight for him was being allowed to personally cut all four umbilical cords. This was incredibly special to him, as their daughter was born in Italy, where hospital protocol required the doctors to do it instead.

Spontaneous quadruplets have never occurred in his family before, though there is a history of multiples; one of Lamin's sisters has a set of twins, and another sister has two sets of twins.

While the global chance of a standard quadruplet pregnancy is roughly 1 in 500,000, a naturally conceived, identical quadruplet pregnancy occurs in only 1 out of 11 to 15 million pregnancies. Neonatologist Koen Dijkman stated that this was the first quadruplet birth in his 18-year career at the hospital.

The hospital modified the operating room for the exceptional delivery, which is ordinarily set up for no more than three babies. The extensive preparations ensured the procedure went "like a well-oiled machine," gynecologist Bloeme van der Knoop said.

Omroep Brabant reported that the babies were born last month, although the hospital only released the news today. The hospital purposefully waited until late June to share the news to ensure the pre-term babies had successfully passed through their initial, highly precarious phase of development.

The four brothers are staying in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The father noted that checking their weight is his first priority every day, happily reporting that they are steadily growing and thriving.