Rain:1313: Three Birthdays

Synopsis

Author Notes

Firstly, cold open! Welcome to Chapter 43. We'll see the cover next time. ^_^

Anyway, I've been joking to friends that Lydia was me kinda not firing off "Chekhov's baby" through the last chapter. The pieces were all set for everything to happen, but I just didn't want that to be what that last chapter was. I really wanted it to just be about all the kids actually enjoying themselves at the party. They deserved to all have a nice time.

So of course, I cheated and had the baby born off-screen on the very next page after the chapter ended. Mwa ha ha! XD

Also, to the best of my memory, I've never attempted to draw a newborn baby before. In real life, they're wrinkly and lumpy and stuff. Trying to keep the kid in the consistent artstyle just resulted in a long face. Sorry if this is a little weird. XD

Jokes aside, I saw a lot of people getting anxious about super heavy stuff like miscarriage, or Emily dying in childbirth, and that was just not ever where my plans were going. I think going into the full drama of rushing to the hospital and "a very long night of labor" would've just stressed people out needlessly for a story path I had zero interest in exploring, so I veered away from getting too nitty gritty with the childbirth (I probably wasn't gonna include it anyway; I didn't have any big ideas, so it would've been mostly tangential and not really adding much).

Moving on, Rain tried to make a simple yellow cake with chocolate frosting for Emily's birthday. But a baker, she is not. So here we have this weird lumpy birthday cake she made. Tastes good, though. That's what's important. Based on actual events. XD

The final image shows a calendar with all the days crossed off leading up to Rain's birthday. It's very small, so if you can't read it, the notes on August 24th are "B-Day", "Name Change", and "Inheritance". Looks like a busy day!

Transcript

Wednesday, July 17th. Early morning.
Rain is thinking to herself:

Two weeks to the day after the pool party - and one week before her due date - Emily had her baby, after a very long night in labor.
Seven pounds, one ounce. Lots of hair. Very healthy.
Lydia Wynn Caston.
A lot of time and thought went into the first and middle name in the months leading to now, but it wasn't until Lydia was born we even considered the last name.
Both of our surnames are kinda cursed by the lousy parents tied to them. So admittedly, Caston might just be a placeholder for now.

Tuesday, July 30th.
Rain is thinking to herself:

Emily would only finally turn 18 herself a few weeks later. We were all kinda worn out by then, so all she asked for was a quiet day at home and a good cake.
We were living with a newborn now, though, so I tried to make a cake for her. It came out looking like a disaster, but she swore it was good.
And a month after that would be my 18th birthday. A day I'd been very excited for. Though I felt a little uneasy when the day finally came...

Links and References