With her stomach stretched to the size of a beach ball, Teresa Anderson is reminded every day of the surrogacy deal that she hoped would swell her family budget.
The mother of four from Mesa, Arizona, is in the late stages of a pregnancy that will deliver five babies to a childless couple who would have been happy with one.
Doctors say that the quintuplets, the world's largest multiple surrogate pregnancy, are all doing well, although one will need heart surgery after birth. The same cannot be said of Mrs Anderson, who complains of: "Five times the swelling and five time the mood swings. My back is strained. It's hard to walk. Breathing is even a problem."
At 25, Mrs Anderson has four children of her own, including two she gave up for adoption as an unmarried teenager. After making a deal with Luisa and Enrique Gonzales, she was implanted with several foetuses, with a 30 per cent chance of a single pregnancy.
She met the Gonzales after the couple advertised on a surrogacy website. Mrs Anderson, a nursing student, convinced her postman husband, Jared, that it would be an easy way to earn $15,000 (£8,000) since, in her words: "I was just going to be pregnant.''
Mrs Gonzales, whose husband is a gardener, had been trying to conceive for nine years, with the couple taking out a second mortgage on their home in Phoenix, Arizona.
It was during a routine ultrasound in January, with Mrs Gonzales, 32, at her side, that doctors broke the news. As the number of heartbeats grew, both women burst into tears, with Mrs Gonzales moaning: "I just wanted one," and Mrs Anderson crying, "sorry". Mr and Mrs Gonzales turned down doctors' offers to abort some of the foetuses, a decision backed by the Andersons.
Now 31 weeks' pregnant, Mrs Anderson will give birth to the babies, all boys, by caesarean section at the end of the month. The pregnancy has taken its toll. At 5ft 7in she has gained more than 5st, can hardly stand and sleep is almost impossible.
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The mother of four from Mesa, Arizona, is in the late stages of a pregnancy that will deliver five babies to a childless couple who would have been happy with one.
Doctors say that the quintuplets, the world's largest multiple surrogate pregnancy, are all doing well, although one will need heart surgery after birth. The same cannot be said of Mrs Anderson, who complains of: "Five times the swelling and five time the mood swings. My back is strained. It's hard to walk. Breathing is even a problem."
At 25, Mrs Anderson has four children of her own, including two she gave up for adoption as an unmarried teenager. After making a deal with Luisa and Enrique Gonzales, she was implanted with several foetuses, with a 30 per cent chance of a single pregnancy.
She met the Gonzales after the couple advertised on a surrogacy website. Mrs Anderson, a nursing student, convinced her postman husband, Jared, that it would be an easy way to earn $15,000 (£8,000) since, in her words: "I was just going to be pregnant.''
Mrs Gonzales, whose husband is a gardener, had been trying to conceive for nine years, with the couple taking out a second mortgage on their home in Phoenix, Arizona.
It was during a routine ultrasound in January, with Mrs Gonzales, 32, at her side, that doctors broke the news. As the number of heartbeats grew, both women burst into tears, with Mrs Gonzales moaning: "I just wanted one," and Mrs Anderson crying, "sorry". Mr and Mrs Gonzales turned down doctors' offers to abort some of the foetuses, a decision backed by the Andersons.
Now 31 weeks' pregnant, Mrs Anderson will give birth to the babies, all boys, by caesarean section at the end of the month. The pregnancy has taken its toll. At 5ft 7in she has gained more than 5st, can hardly stand and sleep is almost impossible.
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