Basic Trope: Drama that comes from a baby being born premature.
- Straight: Alice goes into labour before her due date, and soon, they have a daughter named Claire. Unfortunately, Claire is anemic, has a weak immune system, and needs to be put in an incubator for two months.
- Exaggerated:
- Claire dies from being born too early.
- Alice gives birth to quads before her due date, all of whom have a myriad of health problems.
- Downplayed: Claire is born with jaundice due to an underdeveloped liver, but this goes away after only a few days, and she's then able to go home without any problems.
- Justified:
- Alice has high-risk pregnancies.
- Alice was just unlucky.
- Alice went into shock.
- Inverted: Alice goes into labour late, and as such, Claire is too big to fit through Alice's vagina, requiring a C-section.
- Subverted: Alice goes into labour early, and Bob freaks out, worrying that his baby will have health problems, or worse, die. However, when Claire is born, she's completely fine.
- Double Subverted: But when she catches her first cold, it endangers her due to her underdeveloped respiratory system.
- Parodied:
- Zigzagged: Claire is born premature, but she seems healthy, then when she later catches a cold, Bob says things like "She might die!", but it's unclear if she's actually in danger, or if he's just being a worrywart dad.
- Averted:
- Alice and Bob remain childless.
- Claire is born on her due date.
- Enforced: "We need more drama, but having the baby die would be too sad. Let's just have her be born premature and almost die."
- Lampshaded: "Why did you have to come early!?"
- Invoked: The villain deliberately induces Alice's labour early in an attempt to kill Claire.
- Exploited:
- Defied:
- Discussed: "What if I go into labour early? Will our baby get health problems?!"
- Conversed: "In fiction, being born premature is even riskier than it is in real life!"
- Implied:
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs:
- Played for Drama: Alice is sent into a deep depression and struggles to care for her ailing newborn daughter.
- Played for Horror:
Back to Premature Birth Drama.
