Russian mother gives birth to quadruplets

A Russian couple who'd hoped to have a baby son have got more than they planned for. The mother from Russia’s westernmost region of Kaliningrad instead gave birth to four bundles of joy.

In order to ensure her safety, she spent five months under observation in hospital.

Quadruplets are rare, as most are born prematurely and the survival rate is low.

The family of Sergey Grakhovsky, a naval officer with the Baltic fleet, was not expecting so many new arrivals, but now their family has swelled considerably with the birth of two boys and two girls.

They are the first quadruplets born in Kaliningrad since the 1960s and were born at one-minute intervals.

The family will get assistance from the Kremlin, which is offering families who choose to have a second baby $US 10,000 when the child turns three, in a bid to reverse Russia’s population decline.