May's Delays, Part VII
*WARNING - this story is not medically realistic, and none of the actions in it are medically advisable. This is a work of fiction, and nothing in it should be emulated. Attempting any of the things depicted in this work of fiction would be extremely dangerous, with the potential for serious injury or death.*
May and Angela had settled into a steady pattern, each contracting about every five minutes, with the strength of each surge being moderate. We chatted in and around the pool, and I kept checking and massaging their bellies in an effort to prevent things from ramping up again. We were all pleased by this relative calm, but I warned that we might simply be in the eye of the hurricane, and that the raging storm could return at any time.
Again, I told May to be wary of the ejection reflex, in which the womb begins to push hard, totally involuntarily. "I've seen it come out of nowhere before," I explained. "Sometimes things seem to settle down, contractions back off, the woman feels more relaxed, and then - suddenly - her body is just pushing."
"Yeah yeah, you've told me," May replied, rubbing her belly, which was soft and at ease between contractions.
"You've been resisting labour for more than two weeks", I continued. "That reflex is how the body responds when it is absolutely desperate to finally give birth, and nothing else it's tried has worked. It doesn't always happen, but if somebody resists labor for long enough, eventually, it will."
"What about me?" Angela asked, looking down at the full-moon expanse of her own gravid form. "Do you think that will happen to me?"
"Quite possibly," I answered. "You're also very overdue, very large - no offense, of course - and have been resisting labour for some time. But May is slightly bigger than you, and her labour progressed further than yours ever has, so she's the one I'm most worried about."
I looked back to May, wondering whether she was genuinely unconcerned, or merely putting on a brave face. I knew she was capable of resisting the urge to push, but if - or when - that reflex kicked in, it would override her conscious control of her body. Or at least, control of her abdominal muscles. But I had already warned her and explained things, and it wasn't happening yet, so there was no use in dwelling on it. I tried to relax and just enjoy the time I had with these two beautiful, insanely pregnant women.
We passed an hour together like that, until May mentioned being hungry. We ordered pizza and a few other things for an early dinner.
After we ate, May and Angela, still in their bathing suits, lounged together on a wicker patio couch, full, tired, and relaxed. The many hours of contractions had taken a lot out of Angela in particular, and she closed her eyes and laid her head to rest on May's shoulder. Leaned in like that, her massive belly was pressed firmly against the side of May's. They absent-mindedly stroked their own and each other's bellies as they took turns contracting every few minutes. From my chair, I could see every contraction - the overdue and over-inflated wombs rippling, tensing, and bulging at a slow, steady rhythm.
Angela still looked a bit worried during some of her own surges, but May seemed to have gotten used to the feeling of being in labour. Besides, she had been having much stronger contractions before, so the ones she was experiencing there on the couch must have seemed trivial to her, even though these ones weren't exactly weak.
At 6:00 PM, we went inside together. Suddenly, May went wide-eyed.
"What is it?" I asked, my eyes scanning her belly for signs of trouble.
"I haven't posted in hours!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, is that it? I thought something was wrong."
"Ah, no, sorry," May laughed. "I just realized, you know - hours ago, I ended that livestream so suddenly, and I never updated my followers. They probably think I've popped!"
"Hmm, yeah, it would be a safe assumption for them to make," I agreed.
"Wait, I have an idea for a funny video," May exclaimed, clapping her hands together in delight.
She grabbed her phone, went into the other room, and laid on the examination bed, pulling a blanket over herself.
"What are you doing?" I asked as I followed her into the room.
"Shut up, just give me a minute," she said, grinning mischievously.
May messed up her own hair a bit, took a deep breath, and adopted a tired, faintly sad facial expression. Then she held up her phone and hit record. I watched from the doorway.
"Hi everyone. Sorry for cutting the livestream short earlier - things just started happening so quickly. It all went faster than I wanted it to. I thought we had more time, but, yeah. I guess not. I finally popped." She let out a long sigh and cast her eyes down toward her torso, which was off camera. She was only recording herself from about the shoulders up. "I'm not pregnant anymore. Everything went fine - it all went smoothly - and it all happened so fast." If anything, the way she repeated herself helped sell the exhausted, scatterbrained schtick she was going for. "So yeah, I'm in the hospital, but everything went fine. Everything is all good..."
Her face fell, looking sad and defeated. I thought I could even see tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "I'm just really emotional now that it's all over, you know?" she continued, her voice hitching slightly. "Part of me is really happy, but part of me... I mean, I loved being pregnant. I loved my belly. I loved the way I looked, the way I felt... half of you - no, most of you - you only followed me for my belly. Don't deny it. I know it's true. And now my belly is gone. Well, I mean, it's still there, but it's flat and flabby and empty now. So half of you will probably unfollow. Which is fine, you know. Whatever."
Standing in the doorway, I grinned at May. She was selling this so well - acting the part of the exhausted, emotional, hormonal woman who had just given birth. Off camera, but perfectly visible to me, her vast belly still rose above her frame, stretching the blanket upward. But anyone watching the video would believe every word she was saying.
Seeing me smile, May stifled a laugh and gave me a look that said "don't crack me up here".
I suppressed my own laugh and gave her a thumbs up.
May looked back to the camera. "Sorry, a nurse distracted me. But yeah... I'm not pregnant anymore. And my whole life is going to be different now. I didn't get to perform in that music video I wanted to be in. It's too bad. I was so close."
May winced as I saw her belly begin to visibly contract beneath the blanket. Of course, she couldn't admit the source of her discomfort. "Sorry," she said, repositioning herself slightly and carefully keeping the camera aimed at only her face. "I'm still just sore. My back, you know... Anyway, yeah, I kinda made being pregnant my whole thing for the last few months. And most of you are fans of my belly, not of ME, really. I wish it could have lasted longer. But my belly is gone. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the video shoot, and sorry you'll never see my pregnant belly again. And I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to make more content while I was in labour. I had meant to film some more contractions and stuff, but... what can you do, right? Maybe someday, I'll get pregnant again. But for now, I guess my content is going to be a lot less exciting to most of you. I'm really going to miss being pregnant."
Angela was now standing beside me, quietly watching along with me as May filmed. I placed a hand on Angela's belly.
May shifted a bit in the bed again. "I guess... I guess I should show you my post-partum tummy anyway, just so you can see how much it changed in just a few hours. But don't be mean to me in the comments, ok? I know it looks a little weird now that it's all deflated. It'll take a while to get toned again."
She tossed the blanket down, took a deep breath, and hit the screen to switch to the back camera, finally revealing her torso. With the blanket removed, her pregnant belly stood bare, tall, and proud, her tight skin shining under the light of the examination room. She gave her belly a few pats for the camera as she burst out laughing. She wiggled her hips, causing the pregnant swell to sway from side to side. She switched back to the selfie camera.
"Did you believe me? Did you fall for it? Did I fucking GET YOU?" She tilted her head back and laughed hard before putting a hand to her face and continuing. "Ah, you guys totally fell for it, didn't you? You thought I popped. You thought I gave birth. Can you imagine? Like, as if I'd just LET that happen? To MY belly? Right before the big video shoot? Nah. Nah. Couldn't be me. I'm still pregnant. Oh, but cutting the livestream off earlier was genuine. Like, I wasn't acting. That was just a crazy strong contraction, but I got through it. Like I am very much still in labour. I know some of you aren't going to believe anything I say after that epic prank I just got your asses with, but that's the truth. I damn near did pop earlier, but we got things back under control. I'm contracting about every five minutes, but I'm still fully pregnant. My water hasn't broken, and I'm still fuckin' huge and round. And I'm not going to let that change any time soon. I'm still fighting off labour. Like, dude, I had a crazy urge to push earlier, but I just didn't. Because this is my belly, and I'm in control. I'm not done with this pregnancy yet, so I'm not letting it end. Yeah, I'm weeks overdue. Yeah, I'm in labour. But I'm still in control, and I'm keeping this belly a while longer. I WILL be at the video shoot tomorrow. And you'll see more of this big ol' belly. It won't be here forever, sadly, but it ain't gone yet."
May then turned the camera around and filmed a couple of contractions from her own point of view, narrating the closeup footage as the pale orb of flesh squeezed dramatically.
After the second on-screen contraction subsided, she grinned at the camera and signed off, promising once again that she wasn't going to let her pregnancy end until she was ready.