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WORLD / America
Woman has rare identical quadruplets
(AP)
Updated: 2007-08-17 10:11
HELENA, Mont. -- A 35-year-old Canadian woman has given birth to rare
identical quadruplets, officials at a Great Falls hospital said Thursday.
J.P. Jepp cradles Dahila Jepp, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007, at a hospital in
Great Falls, Mont., one of the identical quadruplets his wife Karen Jepp
gave birth to Sunday afternoon, Aug. 12, 2007. [AP]
Karen Jepp of Calgary, Alberta, delivered Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and
Dahlia by Caesarian section Sunday afternoon at Benefis Healthcare, said
Amy Astin, the hospital's director of community and government relations.
The four girls were breathing without ventilators and listed in good
condition Thursday, she said.
"These babies are doing grand," said Dr Tom Key of Great Falls, the
perinatologist who delivered the girls.
The babies were born about two months early and were conceived without
fertility drugs, he said. They weighed between 2.6 pounds and 2.15 pounds.
Jepp and her husband, J.P., declined to be interviewed.
"The parents have been a little bit shy about the press. ... We agreed to
handle it in a way they were comfortable with," Astin said. The couple
have a 2-year-old son, Simon.
J.P. Jepp works for Shell Oil Co., and both worked for nonprofit groups
until recently, Astin said.
The chances of giving birth to identical quadruplets is about one in 13
million, Key said.
"This is a very big medical event," he said. "Identical quadruplets are
extremely rare."
Medical literature indicates there are less than 50 sets of identical
quadruplets, said Dr Jamie Grifo, director of the NYU Fertility Center in
New York.
The last reported set were born in April 2006 to a 26-year-old Indian
woman.
The Jepps drove 325 miles to Great Falls for the births because hospitals
in Calgary were at capacity, Key said.
"The difficulty is that Calgary continues to grow at such a rapid rate.
... The population has increased a lot faster than the number of hospital
beds," he said.
Two of the girls were to be transferred to a Calgary hospital later
Thursday. The other two could be moved Friday if their conditions remain
favorable, Key said.
They will likely remain hospitalized for four to six weeks, he said.
"These quads are special," Astin said. "The fact that she carried them 31
weeks and three days is excellent."
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