Re - the fourth one (WARNING, TALK OF DEATH):

>! Stan, being the cheaty bag of poop he is, contracted syphilis while Dorothy was pregnant (or, fuck, even before - no word on if Dorothy was HIS first) and gave it to her without telling her. Untreated syphilis in a pregnant woman has approximately a 40% chance of causing a stillbirth or infant death very shortly after birth. Their first child died because of this. Grief kept them together, which sometimes happens. Syphilis can also impact fertility for both men and women, even after treatment (which I'm assuming Stand and Dorothy did in fact get), which could account for the gap in ages for the kids and also for the fact that Dorothy has the fewest children out of the whole group. Shame and grief could have kept them both quiet about the real cause of the baby's death, as syphilis was hugely stigmatized and Dorothy already felt incredible shame about having been unmarried and pregnant. !<