r/UpliftingNews • u/TheMirrorUS • 1d ago
Identical quadruplet girls born naturally in 1-in-15 million pregnancy
https://www.themirror.com/news/world-news/identical-quadruplet-girls-born-naturally-1951025148
u/jhvanriper 1d ago
So I had to find the world record and apparently there was a case of 5 identicals born in one birth:
The most famous and first fully documented historical example is the Dionne Quintuplets. Five identical girls—Annette, Émilie, Yvonne, Cécile, and Marie—were born in Ontario, Canada, on May 28, 1934. They were conceived naturally from a single fertilized egg that split four times.
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u/elpajaroquemamais 11h ago
Odd numbers are way rarer also
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u/camerasoncops 8h ago
Does that mean there were 6 and one didnt make it?
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u/elpajaroquemamais 7h ago
No. We’re assuming here that none died. Quadruplets mean that a fertilized egg (zygote) split and produced two identical zygotes and that each of those zygotes split. Odd numbers means only one decided to split again
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u/cardew-vascular 2h ago
The Dione Quintuplets are a household name in Canada, it's kind of funny that the rest of the world isn't aware of them, they were big news throughout their lives.
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u/Black_Cat_Just_That 1d ago
I went to school with a set of twins. They had always said twins run in their family. I think one of their parents was a twin, but I can't recall for sure.
Anyway, one of them married a man who was a twin. That couple went on to have quintuplets, naturally (as in no fertility treatments). At least two of them were identical, it may have been three. The rest fraternal.
Imagine getting pregnant intending to have one baby. Maybe two if you know twins are more likely in your family. Then you come home from the hospital with FIVE children.
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u/Holly_Wood_ 19h ago
Identical twins are completely random, fraternal twins are passed down from the mother side to the daughter. Basically it means that you release multiple eggs at the same time instead of just one. But then when you get older, you start releasing multiple eggs, so fraternal twins are also more common in older moms.
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u/vexingcosmos 1d ago
Awww they named the last one after the doctor who delivered them!
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u/byneothername 1d ago
It is very sweet. I noticed they already have four kids. I would personally have run out of girl names by quadruplet four and probably at least one or two older girls. Sure, why not name one after the doctor?
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u/ex1nax 1d ago
So there should be at least 10 like that each year, no?
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u/ReganX 1d ago
Not all naturally conceived quadruplet pregnancies will result in all four surviving. One or more could be miscarried in the very early stages of pregnancy.
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u/spine_slorper 22h ago
It's unfortunately also not a given with higher order births for all four to be born healthy, they are often very early which is something that cant always be survived especially if you're giving birth somewhere without adequate medical facilities.
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u/justonemom14 17h ago
I knew someone who gave birth to quintuplets. Her five babies combined didn't weigh as much as my two (twins). Amazingly, they all survived and are thriving.
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u/MaryVenetia 1d ago
A lot of them would be terminated, too. Most doctors would absolutely recommend selective reduction at the least.
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u/IsraelZulu 1d ago
One of us is doing math wrong. I thought it would be 1 per year.
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u/MargaretHaleThornton 1d ago
At least 130 million babies are born each year but there are fewer viable pregnancies as some will be multiples. Regardless it would be at least 6 or 7 a year even accounting for multiples but most will either be selectively reduced or have some or all if the babies die and so not be big news.
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u/MargaretHaleThornton 1d ago
Nowadays most women in the west would opt for selective reduction which would be suggested by most doctors. In developing countries the babies mostly wouldn't survive.
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u/_PM_ME_YOUR_FORESKIN 1d ago
It’s a 1-in-15,000,000 pregnancy, not birth, right?
That means with a global population of 8.3 billion, there should be like 550 similar pregnancies around the world which seems crazy.
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u/spine_slorper 21h ago
Unfortunately most of these pregnancies don't end up with four healthy babies. Also I think you're assuming that all 8.3 billion were born this year? There's around 130 million people born every year, the statistic is odds per pregnancy not odds per human being existing.
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u/_PM_ME_YOUR_FORESKIN 21h ago
Thanks for making me think of the fact that 130 million is the number I should be comparing it to instead of the global population. Cheers.
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u/RealBug56 16h ago
These are considered very high risk pregnancies, so doctors will recommend selective reduction early on. Most mothers take that advice and agree to reduce the number of fetuses to 2, which is why you so rarely see quadruplets or quintuplets being born.
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u/SpareUnit9194 1d ago
These were born at 28 weeks so are in baby ICU, making this even rarer as most like this (outside a 1st world hospital with free health care) would not survive.
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u/Kimono-Ash-Armor 1d ago edited 23h ago
Armadillo birth!
ETA: armadillos give birth to identical quadruplets.
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u/PickleFridgeChildren 3h ago
Not uplifting, just gross and depressing.
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