I was a whale. My stomach was huge, and covered with stretchmarks. My bellybutton looked like a distended alien orifice. My tits had swollen to a huge size, and dripped milk at the most inopportune times. I was in misery. Worse yet, I'd had serious complications, and with the pregnancy related hypertension and diabetes, I had been admitted to the hospital.
I first met Clara there. She was unlike me in every way. I was a normally statuesque woman, nearly amazonian at six feet tall, and although pretty, I would never be called petite or small. I could squeeze into a DD bra if I didn't want to spend exorbitant sums to have one custom made to my measurements, but it left me sore and made it hard to breath. I could've stood to loose some weight, before the pregnancy. Like Marilyn Monroe, I had a curvy figure, with emphasis on the curves. In the sixties, I would have looked like a sex goddess, instead of when I grew up, being made fun of for being a little "chubby" my whole life. I'm a natural redhead, with that pale, freckled complexion that burns and never tans. Clara on the other hand was a tiny little thing, at around 5'6, black hair, and I'd guess an B cup, if that. She almost painfully thin. She was covered in tattoos and piercings, and wore a pair of black rimmed, plastic framed glasses. She was one of my nurses.
"Hey Triplets," she said with a smile as she introduced herself to me that first night. That's what the nurses called me, "Triplets".
They called her "Goth-Girl" half the time, and she didn't care, just laughed it off more often then not.
I had a lot of trouble with pain, particularly laying there in bed all the time. Being pregnant, there was very little they could give me for it, so I mostly had to just endure it. When you're laying there, trying to keep from screaming or crying in pain, time crawls to a standstill. When you extend that over days and weeks... I might have lost my mind if it wasn't for Clara. I'm not sure if I seduced her or if she seduced me...
One day, she came into my room pushing a cart. Whatever was on the cart was covered with a towel. She walked over to the window, and closed the blinds. I figured it was time for another sponge bath. I'd blush to admit it, but I preferred to be bathed by her. There was just something less mechanical about the way she did it, as if she didn't mind the intimacy. But instead, she revealed something else on the cart once the blinds were closed and the door locked.
"I know your breasts have been bothering you," she started.
"Um... yes..." I blushed.
"Well, it's just going to get worse from here on. So the other nurses told me that this is your first pregnancy."
"Yeah... might be my last too. I wouldn't have agreed if I'd known it was going to be like this."
"Agreed."
"Oh. I guess they didn't tell you. I'm a surrogate. Once I've given birth to the triplets, they're off to their parents, and I'm done with all this."
"Oh... Wow. I don't think I've ever met a surrogate mother before. That's really something. So that couple I've seen in here a few times...?"
"Yeah, those are the parents."
"Ah, I see. I'd been wondering where the father was, but you know how it is, all kinds of different families and arrangements, and I didn't want to ask any uncomfortable questions."
"No problem.... Yes, just a couple more weeks, and then freedom."
"You're looking forward to having them out of you?"
"Yes. No... Oh... I'm conflicted and emotional about it. But I just want the pain over with, you know? One baby probably would have been alright. But triplets? They might just kill me before their through."