Northern Ireland ? A British hospital says a mother in Northern Ireland has given birth to sextuplets.

The babies, four girls and two boys, are the first sextuplets born in the United Kingdom in more than 20 years.

Neonatal consultant Dr. Clifford Mayes said Friday that the children were born through Cesarean section within five minutes of each other.

Mayes said the babies were being cared for in intensive care in Belfast.

Only about one in 4.5 million pregnancies result in cases of sextuplets. Mayes said the pregnancy wasn’t the result of in vitro fertilization.