Invested healing and pregnancy

[Dancer]

If someone was pregnant in the Cosmere and had the ability to use Invested healing how would it work. For instance would using F-gold or Stormlight heal your spirit web and that of you child, or would it not recognize the child as a living being and just heal you thus healing the unborn child by default.  

[HSuperLee]

I'm trying to think of any example where we've seen invested healing used on an injury that would have destroyed gut flora, as that's probably the closest we can get without directly seeing a pregnant woman regenerate. However, if I had to theorize, the spiritweb as a temporal element, we know this in part because healing doesn't make people younger. It restores a person to their "natural state." With that in mind, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some part of the spirit web that says where the woman's pregnancy should be at the time, and would regenerate the child. The other possibility I see is that the spiritual connection between mother and unborn child is unparalleled in the cosmere and is sufficient to act as a conduit for investiture to flow, thus transferring the effects to the child. I actually think the second is more likely, as we know connection can allow the flow of investiture, as seen in allomancers' connection to Preservation.

[Weltall]

I think any time we see blanket healing (ie, not when Kaladin is trying very hard to heal his arm, or Wayne is prioritizing between wounds because of limited stored health) would count as a situation where the magic could potentially be hitting stuff that isn't technically 'you' but is still an important part of you, like the microorganisms in the body that are in a mutualistic relationship. The magic probably sees them as part of you because the person perceives them as a part of them, if they're even aware the bacteria exists. I imagine that the magic would react similarly to a pregnant woman and the degree of Connection between mother and child across all three Realms would cause the magic to treat the child as part of her for healing purposes, even is the child has its own spiritweb.

Oh, and while he doesn't go into mechanical details Brandon has given thought to the question of how his magic systems affect pregnancy and Stormlight at least would be extremely safe.

Quote

Questioner

Have your ever thought about how your magic systems would affect a pregnant woman?

Brandon Sanderson

I have given thought to it.

Questioner

...Which system would you say would be safest as a pregnant woman?

Brandon Sanderson

I think Stormlight-- being Invested with Stormlight would be very safe. You would probably be better off than not. Hemalurgy would be very bad.

Skyward Atlanta signing (Nov. 17, 2018)

I think we can assume from this that healing magics in general would be safe, while things that mess with the mother's spiritweb would be dangerous..

[--delete--]

At the end of Edgedancer Lift tells Gawx every time she cuts a wart off her toe her awesomeness heals it back. Warts are caused by a viral infection in the skin. I think it's safe to assume this restores the infection as well as the infected cells. So at least awesomeness, if not other investiture, can restore 'life' down to the viral level.

[Dancer]

4 hours ago, chef_inspector said:

At the end of Edgedancer Lift tells Gawx every time she cuts a wart off her toe her awesomeness heals it back. Warts are caused by a viral infection in the skin. I think it's safe to assume this restores the infection as well as the infected cells. So at least awesomeness, if not other investiture, can restore 'life' down to the viral level.

IRL if you cut a wart off it will still grow back. I believe that if Lift new what she was doing then she could will the Stormligh to heal just her injured finger and not the wart but I could be wrong.

8 hours ago, Weltall said:

I think any time we see blanket healing (ie, not when Kaladin is trying very hard to heal his arm, or Wayne is prioritizing between wounds because of limited stored health) would count as a situation where the magic could potentially be hitting stuff that isn't technically 'you' but is still an important part of you, like the microorganisms in the body that are in a mutualistic relationship. The magic probably sees them as part of you because the person perceives them as a part of them, if they're even aware the bacteria exists. I imagine that the magic would react similarly to a pregnant woman and the degree of Connection between mother and child across all three Realms would cause the magic to treat the child as part of her for healing purposes, even is the child has its own spiritweb.

Oh, and while he doesn't go into mechanical details Brandon has given thought to the question of how his magic systems affect pregnancy and Stormlight at least would be extremely safe.

I think we can assume from this that healing magics in general would be safe, while things that mess with the mother's spiritweb would be dangerous..

That WOB is what started this thread. From what everyone has said I am now convinced that the Investiture will heal both the Mother and the child's Spiritweb. I would assume that Stormlight would be the best if not the best method because the mother would be absorbing the investiture all the time to do her surges. This would mean that the child would be exposed to huge amounts of Investiture constantly healing it as it is in its infancy. I wonder what this would do to the child Spiritually. Say the mother is a gold compunder constantly tapping her goldmind wile pregnant. Would the constant exposure to Investiture make the child more likely of becoming metalborn. 

[--delete--]

1 hour ago, Dancer said:

if Lift new what she was doing then she could will the [awesomeness] to heal just her [infected toe] and not the wart

This directly opposes the premise of your question of a person being able to heal things that are part of them but not directly themselves though, so what is the point in addressing that?

5 hours ago, chef_inspector said:

I think it's safe to assume this restores the infection

After further consideration I have to admit this might not be the case. Lift's awesomeness may be growing a new viral culture and not restoring the old infection.

[Dancer]

The way I see it is there are two directions the Invested healing can take. It heals just your Spiritweb and everything that you perceive as you or, It heals the Spiritweb of both you and your child. If it is the former then theoretically you could cut a hole in your abdomen and with enough skill heal your body without healing the unborn child. If it is the latter then what ever you do the child will always be healed in conjunction with yourself. I believe that the latter is the way that it works which still allows Lift heal her toe without bringing back the wart.   

Edited September 8, 2019 by Dancer
clarification