Canadian parents won the lottery this week. According to the Associated Press, a woman has a 1 in 13 million chance of conceiving identical quadruplets, although another source I read said the chance was 1 in 65 million. Whatever the true figure, the possibility of having identical quadruplets is extremely rare.
But Karen Jepp of Calgary, Alberta, beat the odds and delivered identical girls, Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia. Amazingly, although they were premature and all weighed between 2.15 and 2.6 pounds, doctors say they are doing very well and breathing on their own. They were conceived without fertility drugs.
To our knowledge, there are less than 50 sets of identical quadruplets in the world, the most recent born to a 26-year-old woman in India in April 2006.
The Jepp quads will remain hospitalized for four to six weeks, and then will be heading home to their two-year-old brother, Simon. And, hopefully, to lots and lots of help for their parents!
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