Ok so I know basic biology and I know how they were born but when they were born Padme was barely beginning to show pregnancy, meaning that Luke and Leia were both pre-mes so my question is how come they looked fully developed?
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7There's a lot of variability in how big a woman will be at 9 months--do a google image search for "small baby bump 9 months" and you'll see plenty of images that seem in about the same size range as Padme in this picture. Plus, y'know, "humans" in Star Wars don't actually come from Earth so their biology could be a little different. – Hypnosifl Mar 25 '16 at 05:41
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What does the planet they are from have to do with their biology? – The Mandolorian Mar 25 '16 at 05:42
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1They're aliens, so although we know they look like Earthlings on the outside, you can't necessarily assume their internal biology is the same unless it's a detail of their biology that's been established in canon (we know of at least one difference: they have midichlorians, we don't). – Hypnosifl Mar 25 '16 at 05:54
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Well we know that their reproductive system works the same way as ours from the cannon novel Lost Stars wich contains the only sex scene that I have ever seen our read about in Star Wars but none the less it does prove that conception happens the same way so it is logical to assume that birth is the same as well. – The Mandolorian Mar 25 '16 at 06:04
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1Are we sure they were premature? – Adamant Mar 25 '16 at 06:17
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@Jonah I'm assuming so due to the apparent time frame of the film itself since she wasn't showing at the beginning of the film and was barley filming at the end also they had to induce labor although that was because she was dying. – The Mandolorian Mar 25 '16 at 06:20
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3Well, you see, when a mommy princess and a daddy sith lord love each other very, very much... – Broklynite Mar 25 '16 at 08:00
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@Broklynite - She wasn't a Princess and he wasn't a Sith Lord. – Valorum Mar 25 '16 at 09:59
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What, your parents never lied about their jobs to make them seem more glamorous to you? – Broklynite Mar 25 '16 at 13:33
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@Broklynite - Well, my parents were both undercover super-spies so they didn't really need to lie to seem glamourous. – Valorum Mar 25 '16 at 13:36
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Well played, Richard, well played. – Broklynite Mar 25 '16 at 13:57
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I submit that Luke and Leia were not premature.
- They did not look premature.
- Whatever actual baby was used was not premature; in fact, it was probably a little too old.
- The questions relating to this issue don't seem to imply that the babies must have been conceived at any particular time.
If that is the case, the only question becomes why Padme, nearly at term, displayed few visible signs of pregnancy. But this is not unheard of. Consider this video (warning: bathing suit selfies). This model is 8 months pregnant, with perhaps slightly below-average weight gain, and does not seem to have gained much more girth than Padme in the later part of the movie. The answer to this question implies that Padme must have been at least five months pregnant when Anakin left for the Outer Rim. Someone who looks like the model mentioned in the video at eight months could well not look pregnant at all at five or six months.
One might suppose that Padme could be at most seven months pregnant when confronted by Anakin, but this supposes that she would have noticed her pregnancy within one month, most likely through missed periods.
However... it seems possible that Padme might have gotten pregnant earlier, but not noticed because she was already missing her periods, and had previously ruled out pregnancy as a reason. Two common factors that can lead to missed periods are stress and heavy physical exertion. The first, of course, is not in short supply when one is a council member in the midst of a war, suffering frequent assassination attempts, etc. As for the other, it is possible that Padme, though no Jedi knight, might have engaged in some physically very demanding combat training in order to better defend herself against assassination attempts. So Padme might have missed a period but confirmed with the medical droids that she was not pregnant. She then might have blamed future missed periods on stress or exercise, not realizing that she was pregnant until later.
