Texas woman, 34, gives birth to ’15million to one’ identical QUADRUPLETS

A woman in Texas has given birth to ‘stunningly’ rare identical quadruplets – a big surprise for her third pregnancy.

Mercedes Sandhu, 34, and her husband Jonathan, 37, already a mother of two, welcomed Hannah Grace, Lucy Marie, Rebecca Claire and Petra Anne on May 1 without the help of IVF – a one in 15 million occurrence.

The babies are fed in the hospital through a feeding tube and breathe with the help of a CPAP machine.

Ms Sandhu initially did not believe her doctor when they told her about what she described on her ultrasound as ‘four small blobs’; neither does her husband. He kept asking her over the phone if she was joking.

Mercedes Sandhu gave birth to four identical babies on May 1. They weighed just over two pounds and will remain in the neonatal intensive care unit until at least July.

Delivering four identical babies without the help of fertility drugs is extremely rare. There are only about 72 documented cases ever and only a handful of cases in the US.

Pregnancies with multiple babies almost always result in babies being born prematurely, before the 37th week, sometimes requiring them to stay in the hospital for months.

Quadruplets are the result of a single fertilized egg splitting into four embryos

Multiple babies are also more likely to be born with a number of congenital birth defects, including spina bifida.

Hannah Grace, Lucy Marie, Rebecca Claire and Petra Anne were born weighing between two pounds seven ounces and two pounds 13 ounces.

When there are multiple babies in the womb, it gets crowded, which means the babies may not grow as expected.

Their small size is also a result of the placenta, which supplies blood to all four fetuses, and which cannot nourish as many babies.

Babies born prematurely may not have fully developed lungs, brains, or other organs, and their immune systems may not be prepared to fight infections.

The babies are doing well and will likely come home in July to join Sandhu’s other children, Luke, 3, and Aaron, 18 months.

The babies were born at 29 weeks, about eight weeks shorter than the normal gestational age. This is not uncommon in multiple pregnancies, often because the placenta has to work overtime to nourish them all in an overcrowded uterus in which babies may not be able to grow normally.

The Sandhu’s third pregnancy was a surprise. Mr Sandhu initially did not believe that his wife was carrying four babies, which is risky for both the mother and the babies

The Sandhu’s pregnancy is the 73rd ever confirmed. Because multiple pregnancies carry a high risk, mom and dad were overjoyed to discover that their babies were generally healthy

Mrs Sandhu said: ‘So we weren’t trying at all, but we were excited. We thought it was a great idea to give our boys another brother or sister. But when we found out there were four… Holy moly!’

“Holy moly,” her husband repeated.

Already a seasoned new mother, Mrs. Sandhu told her husband that it would not be necessary to accompany her to the first doctor’s appointment; many more scans would need to be attended, she said.

But when the doctor showed her the four heads on the computer monitor, Ms Sandhu said she became “a bit hysterical”.

When she told her husband the shocking news, he initially did not believe her.

The doctor told her about the numerous risks associated with carrying quadruplets, or multiple babies for that matter.

Carrying multiple babies can cause a mother to become anemic, meaning she doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body.

She may also bleed excessively after birth due to an overly swollen uterus.

Women with multiple fetuses are also twice as likely to develop high blood pressure during pregnancy and are more likely to have a miscarriage during the first trimester.

Mr Sundhu said: ‘The chances of conceiving identical quadruplets are astonishing. So the chance of them getting through something is a long shot compared to that.”