MELBOURNE, Australia -- A 31-year-old Australian gave birth today to the world's first test-tube quadruplets -- all boys -- and doctors at the Royal Women's Hospital pronounced the mother and children in good health.
The babies, delivered by Caesarian section, were born six weeks premature in one-minute intervals beginning at 10:47 a.m.
Dr. Andrew Spiers, head of the hospital's in-vitro fertilization program, led a team of 18 medical personnel, including a pediatrician and nurse for each child, in the deliveries.
A hospital staff member said the babies and mother were 'all fine.' The woman has had no other children and had tried unsuccessfully for a natural pregnancy for six years.
The operation was performed today after doctors decided late Thursday complications could develop if they waited for the mother to go into labor.
The infants weighed 4.56 pounds, 3.9 pounds, 4 pounds and 4.65 pounds respectively, the hospital spokesman said. Doctors determined the four were healthy and would not require intensive care.
'It's fantastic,' said Dr. Alex Lopata, head of the hospital's research team. 'I had hoped it would be two girls and two boys but it's fantastic anyway.'
The mother, whose identity was kept secret, was in her 34th week of pregnancy.
Spiers, an obstetrician, said the mother -- a Melbourne resident who had been married for 10 years -- had four embryos implanted in her womb, a procedure the team often performed because of a better chance of achieving pregnancy.
'We have done it on more than 100 occasions, but this is the first patient who has ended up with quads,' he said.
So-called test-tube embryos develop from eggs that are fertilized 'in vitro,' in glass, in the laboratory and then implanted in the uterus.
The couple waited for 15 months after joining the hospital's in vitro fertilization waiting list and a first attempt to conceive failed last January.
A second attempt was made on May 21, when four eggs were obtained. All four were fertilized with the husband's sperm.
The Melbourne team began their program in late 1979 after intensive studies of the in vitro fertilization program developed by British physician Patrick Steptoe, which resulted in the birth of the world's first test-tube baby in 1978 in Britain.
The first Australian in vitro birth was in June 1980 and since then, the Australian team has delivered 169 test-tube babies, including 20 twins, five triplets and today's quads.
