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Description
The Barnard's Expeditionary Colony had survived the plague, but only barely. The plague had killed most of the younger colonists. The men seemed especially vulnerable. There just weren't enough colonists left to keep the place running for long. It would take six years just to get a message to earth, but it would take another forty years before any rescue could be mounted. They were on their own. Things would start to break down long before that. The colony needed children, as soon as possible.

Natalie was one of the fifteen women who volunteered to help repopulate. All of the women wanted to, but most who had survived the plague were too old. The plague had hit the younger ones hardest. At nineteen, Natalie was the youngest survivor in the colony. They explained that they would be giving her treatments to boost her fertility. They were going to try for multiple pregnancies with all of the volunteers. They had all the necessary medical equipment and treatments to ensure that even high-order multiples could be carried to term. Back on earth it was routine for women to carry triplets to term, and there had even been a case of a woman who gave birth to sextuplets at forty-one weeks. All were naturally conceived, of course. It had been a long time since it stopped being considered ethical to enhance a woman's pregnancy. Even in the colony, the two surviving doctors had argued about it for days before deciding that there was no other way. Times were that desperate.

Natalie was given fertility treatments hourly for a week. When ultrasound showed her ovaries were ready, she was given the option of natural or artificial insemination. She chose natural. To maximize the possibility of conception, she would receive sperm from every man in the colony, as often as possible over the course of the next month. There were twenty-three men left, including one of the doctors (the other doctor was one of the women who volunteered to become pregnant). Natalie had to share them with the other fifteen volunteers. The doctors gave them something that temporarily boosted their libido and sperm count, though, so Natalie still had a man calling every hour or two for the next few weeks.

When the hormone test showed she was pregnant, she sadly had to say goodbye to the men to service the other women. At the end of the first month, only six of the women were pregnant. The engineering department had calculated that they would need at least a hundred more colonists in the next twenty years to keep the fields cultivated and operate the terraforming machines. Ideal would be four hundred. If only five women were fertile, it seemed impossible.

Once she was safely pregnant, Natalie returned to her duties in the fields and tending machines. They were desperately short-handed. At the end of the second month, she heard that seven more of the women tested pregnant. Ultrasound showed that three of the original women were having triplets, and one was pregnant with quintuplets. Even after ten weeks, Natalie was still too busy to get herself tested. She knew she wouldn't be able to work after a certain point, and she wanted to get as much done as possible before she was forced by her pregnancy to take it easy.

She was a little worried, though. She knew that she shouldn't be showing at ten weeks. The older women she talked to said that she shouldn't even be able to feel anything at ten weeks, even with triplets. When she lifted her shirt to show them the size of her belly, they told her to see the doctor. It wasn't for several more weeks, though, that she made time. By then, her belly looked like a woman about to go into labor at any moment.

The doctor took one look at her and made her lay down on the examination table. She told Natalie that she might have some serious fluid accumulation that could compromise the pregnancy. Natalie's uterus was already too large for the portable ultrasound to see more than a portion of it, but the screen showed that it was not full of fluid. It was packed solid with babies. She put Natalie in the body scanner. Her belly barely fit. The view of her distended uterus showed too many embryos to count. The computer worked on it for a few minutes and came up with an answer: Her belly contained one hundred twelve embryos, plus or minus five.

Natalie was taken off of strenuous work, and moved into the medical building, so her pregnancy could be more closely monitored and so that she could be given the treatments that would help her babies develop to full term. By the time the others were able to feel movement, Natalie's belly had already swollen to more than a meter across. By the time they were feeling movement...
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This is inspired by Stellos and by Omnipotentfi. Stellos for the insane excess, and Omnipotentfi for inspiring me to actually finish the danged thing and not do such a half-assed job of it.

Description
The Barnard's Expeditionary Colony had survived the plague, but only barely. The plague had killed most of the younger colonists. The men seemed especially vulnerable. There just weren't enough colonists left to keep the place running for long. It would take six years just to get a message to earth, but it would take another forty years before any rescue could be mounted. They were on their own. Things would start to break down long before that. The colony needed children, as soon as possible.

Natalie was one of the fifteen women who volunteered to help repopulate. All of the women wanted to, but most who had survived the plague were too old. The plague had hit the younger ones hardest. At nineteen, Natalie was the youngest survivor in the colony. They explained that they would be giving her treatments to boost her fertility. They were going to try for multiple pregnancies with all of the volunteers. They had all the necessary medical equipment and treatments to ensure that even high-order multiples could be carried to term. Back on earth it was routine for women to carry triplets to term, and there had even been a case of a woman who gave birth to sextuplets at forty-one weeks. All were naturally conceived, of course. It had been a long time since it stopped being considered ethical to enhance a woman's pregnancy. Even in the colony, the two surviving doctors had argued about it for days before deciding that there was no other way. Times were that desperate.

Natalie was given fertility treatments hourly for a week. When ultrasound showed her ovaries were ready, she was given the option of natural or artificial insemination. She chose natural. To maximize the possibility of conception, she would receive sperm from every man in the colony, as often as possible over the course of the next month. There were twenty-three men left, including one of the doctors (the other doctor was one of the women who volunteered to become pregnant). Natalie had to share them with the other fifteen volunteers. The doctors gave them something that temporarily boosted their libido and sperm count, though, so Natalie still had a man calling every hour or two for the next few weeks.

When the hormone test showed she was pregnant, she sadly had to say goodbye to the men to service the other women. At the end of the first month, only six of the women were pregnant. The engineering department had calculated that they would need at least a hundred more colonists in the next twenty years to keep the fields cultivated and operate the terraforming machines. Ideal would be four hundred. If only five women were fertile, it seemed impossible.

Once she was safely pregnant, Natalie returned to her duties in the fields and tending machines. They were desperately short-handed. At the end of the second month, she heard that seven more of the women tested pregnant. Ultrasound showed that three of the original women were having triplets, and one was pregnant with quintuplets. Even after ten weeks, Natalie was still too busy to get herself tested. She knew she wouldn't be able to work after a certain point, and she wanted to get as much done as possible before she was forced by her pregnancy to take it easy.

She was a little worried, though. She knew that she shouldn't be showing at ten weeks. The older women she talked to said that she shouldn't even be able to feel anything at ten weeks, even with triplets. When she lifted her shirt to show them the size of her belly, they told her to see the doctor. It wasn't for several more weeks, though, that she made time. By then, her belly looked like a woman about to go into labor at any moment.

The doctor took one look at her and made her lay down on the examination table. She told Natalie that she might have some serious fluid accumulation that could compromise the pregnancy. Natalie's uterus was already too large for the portable ultrasound to see more than a portion of it, but the screen showed that it was not full of fluid. It was packed solid with babies. She put Natalie in the body scanner. Her belly barely fit. The view of her distended uterus showed too many embryos to count. The computer worked on it for a few minutes and came up with an answer: Her belly contained one hundred twelve embryos, plus or minus five.

Natalie was taken off of strenuous work, and moved into the medical building, so her pregnancy could be more closely monitored and so that she could be given the treatments that would help her babies develop to full term. By the time the others were able to feel movement, Natalie's belly had already swollen to more than a meter across. By the time they were feeling movement...
--------------

This is inspired by Stellos and by Omnipotentfi. Stellos for the insane excess, and Omnipotentfi for inspiring me to actually finish the danged thing and not do such a half-assed job of it.