AN AUSTRALIAN magazine has reported that the girlfriend of a 21-year-old Irish woman has conceived quintuplets following a sperm donation but without in-vitro fertilisation.
The story of Melissa Keevers (27) and her Irish partner, Rosemary Nolan (21), appeared in the Australian magazine Women's Dayon Monday but it has since appeared in publications around the world.
The conception of quintuplets in the absence of IVF treatment is extremely rare, occurring in “about one of 65 million pregnancies”, according to Ms Keever’s obstetrician.
Dr Glenn Gardener told Channel Nine's A Current Affairprogramme that he reacted with amazement but also concern due to the high risk associated with such a pregnancy.
Doctors have said the babies have strong heartbeats, are above average size for multiple births and are in their own individual sacs, which means they are at a lower risk.
“However, the sheer number of babies in this case makes the risk very much higher for this pregnancy,” Dr Gardener said.
“It took me a long time to get my head around what was happening,” Ms Keevers told Women’s Day. “But now I’ve come to terms with it, I’m excited. During the scan the doctor asked us if we wanted the news, but as he looked pale, we were worried something was wrong. He then told us he’d found five gestational sacs, meaning, if all went well, we’d have five babies. We can’t repeat what we said next.
“People don’t know whether to congratulate us or commiserate,” Ms Nolan said. “But we think it’s a miracle and couldn’t be happier.”
Ms Keevers was inseminated with the sperm of an American student, the same donor from which the couple’s first child, Lilly, was born, meaning she will be genetically related to her siblings.