Hit points of a baby during childbirth?

[hal]

Just out of curiosity, how many hit points does a newborn baby have when first born? When it comes time to make a death saving roll due to stressful childbirth, what is to be rolled against for the baby?

For example, lets assume we have a Mother whose HT is 11, and is giving birth to a child in a late TL 2 society. We have a mid-wife who is attending the mother's birthing process, so the final HT saving roll for the mother is rolled against HT+1(standard roll) +2 (TL bonus for midwife) for a modified 13 or less roll. Rolling a 15, the fates have decreed that this child should have a difficult entry into the world.

So, rolling the dice, it seems the fates are determined to be unkind, and the mother suffers 5 (correction: 10 because it is doubled) fatigue in the beginning stages of childbirth. During the final portion of childbirth, the fates are unkind again, and this time, a critical failure results. This means that instead of 2d6 fatigue damage to the mother, she suffers 2d6 x 2. Rolling an 8, we find that the poor mother suffers enough damage through childbirth, that she suffers a total of 5 + 16 (Correction: 26 fatigue not 21) or 21 points of fatigue. Since her Fatigue level is 10, she suffers a total of 11 points of damage (Correction: 16). Per the rules, any actual damage suffered by the mother, is also suffered in equal measure by the child (per LOW TECH COMPANION 1). So, at this point, the child has suffered what amounts to 11 (correction: 16) points of damage.

Per page 20 of GURPS CHARACTERS, we find that an infant has 30% of their ST (and consequently HP) plus perhaps a HT at their normal adult range, or maybe -1 overall. So, assuming a HT 10 Baby, with a ST of 3 - we have a child whose HP value is listed as 3, and HT 9. Damage of 11 points will place the child at zero points, plus -HT at 6 points of damage, and requires a second Death saving roll when damage reaches a total of 11 points. A third death saving roll is required at -16 points.

Am I doing this right?

Also, along the same vein of questioning - shouldn't a mid-wife be rolling against her skill in an effort to aid the child birth, and on a success, grants the mother the bonus for TL, on a failure, doesn't help nor hinder, and on a crit fail, perhaps actively makes a mistake that hinders the childbirth process?

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by hal

Just out of curiosity, how many hit points does a newborn baby have when first born?

Average newborn weighs 7.5 lbs. If we find the cube root of that and multiply it by 2, we come to 3.8, which rounds off to a nice even 4. So four hitpoints.

If you wanted to see if it survived, just roll against the baby's HT (which is probably 10, but might be lower for a premie)

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Average newborn weighs 7.5 lbs. If we find the cube root of that and multiply it by 2, we come to 3.8, which rounds off to a nice even 4. So four hitpoints.

Three HP would imply a birth weight of 3.375 lbs., which I think is pretty seriously low for a human infant. Five HP would imply 15.625 lbs., which is almost unimaginably high. So I think I agree on going with 4 as normal; it would imply 8 lbs., which is a reasonable ballpark figure.

If you split the differences right at 3.5 and 4.5 HP, you'd have weight limits of 5.4 and 11.3 lbs., which I think still encompasses the great majority of full term newborns.

Bill Stoddard

[Dwarf99]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Average newborn weighs 7.5 lbs. If we find the cube root of that and multiply it by 2, we come to 3.8, which rounds off to a nice even 4. So four hitpoints.

If you wanted to see if it survived, just roll against the baby's HT (which is probably 10, but might be lower for a premie)

I'd have said 1/3 the mother's HP myself... on the HT I'd take all the modifiers to the conception roll (using Low Tech's rules) and apply that to 10

[Archangel Beth]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Three HP would imply a birth weight of 3.375 lbs., which I think is pretty seriously low for a human infant.

Two pounds, fifteen ounces = a 2 months premature kid, to a mother with pre-eclampsia (low birth-weight babies are common with pre-eclampsia). Do you know how hard it is to find baby clothes for anything below 5 pounds? I was seriously looking in the doll-clothing sections of stores.

(Agreeing -- around 5-11 pounds is reasonable for a full-term, or close to full-term, baby.)

Originally Posted by whswhs

Birth reportedly is incredibly painful—comparable to passing a kidney stone, and for rather similar reasons

My mom would debate that! With proper breathing exercises, apparently no-anesthetic birth can be -- at least for some -- incredibly uncomfortable, but not agonizing. (My mom had four kids, three of them at home, including one who was 10 pounds 8 ounces with elbow presentation; that one was... dangerous. Not even any tearing, though, because of the moderate pace of labor. Me, on the other hand, at 9 pounds, 3 ounces? She said I was so easy she could've had me every other week.)

It is entirely possible there should be a skill of Giving Birth, if you're going to get that crunchy about the subject; someone who is calm and has been taught (or figured out) practices to reduce tension and/or perception of pain may do better than someone who is freaking out.

(Further, breathing and visualization exercises intended for a traditional-route delivery are at least minorly useful even when having a c-section.)

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

Agreeing -- around 5-11 pounds is reasonable for a full-term, or close to full-term, baby.

Well, by the cube-of-ST function (which of course doesn't strictly apply to humans), ST 4 implies a weight between 3 lbs. 6 oz. and 15 lbs. 10 oz., which handily encompasses nearly all likely birth weights.

My mom would debate that! With proper breathing exercises, apparently no-anesthetic birth can be -- at least for some -- incredibly uncomfortable, but not agonizing.

That's not a subject on which I'll ever be in a position to testify. . . .

Bill Stoddard

[ULFGARD]

Finally -- I can stat out my newborn and calculate her cost as a dependent. I think I'm in the negative point total range...

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Well, by the cube-of-ST function (which of course doesn't strictly apply to humans), ST 4 implies a weight between 3 lbs. 6 oz. and 15 lbs. 10 oz., which handily encompasses nearly all likely birth weights.

Characters gives a 3 for this, assuming adult ST 10. I can see an ad hoc lowering; newborns are very fragile, and not just little adults. Their skulls won't have extra DR.

[Archangel Beth]

Originally Posted by whswhs

That's not a subject on which I'll ever be in a position to testify. . . .

Alas, I can only testify to the "ripp'd untimely from the mother's womb" version, and that, with TL8 medicine (THANK GOODNESS). But if you want me to try to get my mom to get an account so it's not just hearsay... O;D

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Average newborn weighs 7.5 lbs. If we find the cube root of that and multiply it by 2, we come to 3.8, which rounds off to a nice even 4. So four hitpoints.

If you wanted to see if it survived, just roll against the baby's HT (which is probably 10, but might be lower for a premie)

This works out fine for live meat = HP, but it also means that a new born could quite possibly live through 2 or more hits from a machete swung by a ST 10 man! Maybe more on track: Figure the HP for a three year old, new born is at 1/3HP, and thus Move is halved.