Sarah Palin's late announcement of a pregancy

[warrior1]

Seven month pregnant, from a rightwing christian anti-abortion's woman? And not a peep for seven months? Why the secrecy?

[Beausoir]

1. Why are so interested in her womb?

[crimsonblue]

2. there's speculation that the baby isn't hers

but her daughter's.

[Beausoir]

7. "Some people say" the ridiculous DU tinfoil brigade jumped the shark.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[crimsonblue]

66. is it not true that there is speculation?

learn to comprehend words.

[pecwae]

70. And it's a 30 foot Great White.

[tinrobot]

15. That might explain flying from Texas to Alaska after her "water broke"

I don't know too many women who would endure a 6 hour flight while in labor.

But if she was flying back to cover for her daughter, it might make more sense.

[Heather MC]

20. She also went through with her Speech in Texas AFTER her water Broke according to MSNBC

Personally I would rather believe she was never really pregnant, than confirm she risked the health of her baby for an 11 hour flight back home
without visiting a clinic in Texas and getting cleared to fly

[sakura]

28. Try 10 to 22 hours, not including waiting in lines, etc.

There is no direct flight between DFW and Anchorage on Alaska Airlines. There are only two flights per day to Seattle, then an hourly/bihourly shuttle to Anchorage.

[roguevalley]

54. its about seven to Phoenix from Alaska. It would be longer from

texas and she would have to change planes at a hub.

[AuntPatsy]

4. fair is fair, why the hell does she worry abought mine?

[Beausoir]

6. Because she's an idiot.

[AuntPatsy]

9. Your right but the fact remains, she openly has stated she cares about my womb and therefore

we can worry about hers.

[onenote]

11. so, because she's an idiot, we should be idiots.

I see. Quite an argument you got there.

[AuntPatsy]

13. How is pretending she is not a female being an idiot? We bash men equaly here..I mean really

[Virginia Dare]

40. Why is it idiot to out her on her lies?

if she lied, it should be exposed.

[1corona4u]

27. BINGO.

Nothing is off the table. It's open season on her.

[Phx_Dem]

17. Oh snap!

:headbang:

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

5. DU has sunk right along with the rest of the country.

2006 looks like a fricking Golden Age in retrospect.

[highplainsdem]

61. I agree. I never thought DU would sink this low.

[LongDistanceRunner]

64. who would have ever thought to call people on their lies?

[tekisui]

76. The story is very fishy. It should be investigated.

[kestrel91316]

10. Because as a rabid anti-abortion nut she is interested in

every other woman's womb. Turnabout is fair play.

[New Dawn]

12. Why are you so interested in defending the GOP's VP candidate?

And we've already bashed McCain for dumping his first wife, so you can not honestly claim that we are singling out women.

[Virginia Dare]

38. Why do you care so much?...n/t

[spanone]

57. ethics, she's run on ethics.

[trueblue2007]

79. I just dont understand why you are slapping everyone

This story IS interesting and I can't quite understand how she could undertake a journey on a plane if she was in labor.

I'm a woman. I ~~DO NOT~~ feel we are bashing Ms. Palin because she is a woman. I feel an investigation is called for.

[AzDar]

82. Well...seeing as she's rabidly Anti-Choice, even in case of rape or incest,

she's certainly interested in MINE.


Seems only right...

[warrior1]

3. Hey I'm got one too.

I'm not just the secrecy.

[liberaldem4ever]

8. What does it matter? Wombs are cool!

My womb has had four little baby boys in it who are all grown up now. Just wanted to brag on how cool my womb was & is since we are discussing wombs. :silly:

[SwampG8r]

53. i agree

the uterus may not be the best thing on earth
but it is right next to it!

[Fleshdancer]

14. I wouldn't think much of it if the labor was normal

but her water breaks a month early so she decides to stay at a conference to give a 30 min speech and then board a commercial airliner for 7 hours instead of going to the hospital. All this on top of carrying what could already be considered a high risk pregnancy. This was her 5th baby. Three days later, she's back to work.

She's either crazy or she's pulling off her own Desperate Housewives plot line.

[elehhhhna]

16. maenwhile, her daughter quits school for MONTHS with mono & is

not seen.

I blame Edwards.

[Emit]

19. lol!

:spank:
:rofl:

[Hutzpa]

47. Now thisis where the dots touched each other

I blame Edwards too....

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

75. hehehehehehe!

[kath]

58. her water breaks, and she hangs around to give a speech about EIGHT HOURS LATER.

http://www.adn.com/626/story/382864.html

Early Thursday -- she thinks it was around 4 a.m. Texas time -- she consulted with her doctor, family physician Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, who is based in the Valley and has delivered lots of babies, including Piper, Palin's 7-year-old.

Palin said she felt fine but had leaked amniotic fluid and also felt some contractions that seemed different from the false labor she had been having for months.

"I said I am going to stay for the day. I have a speech I was determined to give," Palin said. She gave the luncheon keynote address for the energy conference.

Palin kept in close contact with Baldwin-Johnson. The contractions slowed to one or two an hour, "which is not active labor," the doctor said.

"Things were already settling down when she talked to me," Baldwin-Johnson said. Palin did not ask for a medical OK to fly, the doctor said.

"I don't think it was unreasonable for her to continue to travel back," Baldwin-Johnson said.

So the Palins flew on Alaska Airlines from Dallas to Anchorage, stopping in Seattle and checking with the doctor along the way.

"I am not a glutton for pain and punishment. I would have never wanted to travel had I been fully engaged in labor," Palin said. After four kids, the governor said, she knew what labor felt like, and she wasn't in labor.

Still, a Sacramento, Calif., obstetrician who is active in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said when a pregnant woman's water breaks, she should go right to the hospital because of the risk of infection. That's true even if the amniotic fluid simply leaks out, said Dr. Laurie Gregg.

"To us, leaking and broken, we are talking the same thing. We are talking doctor-speak," Gregg said.

{snip}
They landed in Anchorage around 10:30 p.m. Thursday and an hour later were at the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Wasilla.

[Barack_America]

60. Wow. That's a great link.

Thanks!

[SoCalDem]

67. Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Wasilla....not a tip top hospital where she works..in the capitol?

One would think that the governor of the state would want the most up to the minute health care for a high risk pregnancy...

of was Bristol home in Wasilla with Gramma & Grampa?

[creeksneakers2]

83. Mat-su is in Palmer, Alaska

I looked it up. Palmer is listed as a 50 minute drive from Anchorage.

[helderheid]

71. This would actually make sense if it was her DAUGHTER'S water that broke and she was already in AK

[jbnow]

69. Labors tend to be shorter with 2nd and 3rd babies, let

alone the 5th.

I didn't know anything about the rumors but seriously getting on any flight after your water breaks is unbelievable. (At least for an adult who would know better)

[BklynChick]

18. I definitely smell a rat

[Tesibria]

21. This is silly - the chance that a teenager would have a child with Down's Syndrome

is very very very small.

This whole thing is not only unseemly. It's ridiculous.

[pengillian101]

22. Exactly n/t

[Tennessee Gal]

24. My daughter and another girl here had a Down syndrome baby at 18.

Teenagers are having more and more children than older women. I suspect that statistic is changing.

[nbsmom]

25. I thought Bristol was pregnant now

I heard on Air America this a.m. that the 17-year-old daughter is currently pregnant, which I thought made sense since she was the daughter who was holding the baby the whole time anyway (cover up the baby bump with a baby.)

Teenage parents can have children born with Downs syndrome as well. Agreed, the chances _are_ much smaller than with an older parent but it is still possible.

[Barack_America]

46. Maybe, but apparently a rumor has been swirling around Alaska for some time..

That Bristol is the mother of the Downs baby. Apparently she was absent from school for months before the baby's birth. Combine that with the late announcement by Palin (and apparently not showing at 7 months at all).

It will be interesting to see where these rumors go because I'm confused as hell.

[Barack_America]

29. Not necessarily true...

The majority of Down's babies are actually born to mothers under 30.

http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/322.html

[Tesibria]

42. that's because most babies are born to mothers under 30 -- but

on a risk basis, see

[likesmountains 52]

39. Sorry, this is not factually true..

[Tesibria]

41. Yes, actually, it is - per all reports posted on various websites

See, as just one example, this: http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000815/825.html

Update: Reference to specific chart:

[likesmountains 52]

44. well, as someone who has worked in OB for 30 years I agree the the RISK is greater

for women >35...but they get tested for this and many end the pregnancy in the early weeks. A young girl is usually NOT tested for this and subsequently..more babies with Down Syndrome are BORN to women <35.

[Ilsa]

45. Actually, it does happen because younger

pregnant women aren't typically tested for Downs. Older women are more likely to be tested and to abort.

You can't say that NO teens deliver Downs babies, because it does happen. It can't be ruled out.

The placenta breaking a month early and she gets on an airplane carrying ababy that may need Intensive medical care after birth? Is she stupid? Doesn't care? Didn't happen?

[likesmountains 52]

49. I can't think of any doctor who would have advised her to go ahead and fly home..

It's really just a crazy explanation..

[Ilsa]

52. ITA. I've worked w/ new moms postpartum.

The idea of taking a flight in this condition astounds me. I don't believe for a minute that a doc would give her an okay.

[CTyankee]

85. She said she had "slow leakage" of amniotic fluid. That happened to me

with my second child. I didn't go into labor for several hours after the leaking started, but I did go to the hospital and was admitted and watched. Just sayin'...

[hedgehog]

51. Still, it happens

According to the National Association for Down syndrome, "80% of babies born with Down syndrome are born to women younger than 35.

http://www.mothers35plus.co.uk/down.htm

[RayOfHope]

77. My best friends 19 year old sister had a baby with Downs. n/t

[Orangepeel]

26. Why would she fake her water breaking and flying home in labor?

I assume that the OP is alluding to the (IMO) crazy idea that she wasn't really pregnant and faked it to cover for her teenaged daughter's pregnancy.

If she were going to do that, it wouldn't make any sense to make such a production out of the "birth."

[Barack_America]

31. It would be a bit difficult to claim you are the mother of a child born....

thousands of miles from your physical location.

[Orangepeel]

32. but why not just go home and say your water broke then?

why the theatrics?

[Barack_America]

35. Maybe to get out of there quickly and with no questions?

I really don't know.

This story is almost too bizarre for me to speculate.

[Orangepeel]

36. it's hard to know which version is more bizarre

that she faked her pregnancy, water breaking in public, and labor in order to cover for her daughter or that she really was pregnant and treated the premature birth so cavalierly.

[Barack_America]

37. Exactly. It's hard to decide which version is more damning. nt

[sakura]

30. 1 in 65 versus 1 in 1250

Her mom was twenty times more likely to have a Down's child than she was. But 1 in 1250 is not that rare.

http://www.ds-health.com/risk.htm

[jesus_of_suburbia]

33. Sorry... this is a Repuke tactic. There is plenty of shit for us to use against her.. not this.

Don't stoop to their level.

[Virginia Dare]

43. You;'re right let's let her get away with her lies, if that's what they are..

what does it matter that she has lied about her personal life, I'm sure she won't lie to us about anything else.

[Barack_America]

48. Or if she has potentially endangered her child for her political career...

I would think that would be a strong statement about her character.

And, for the record, I consider how good a father a man is just as strongly.

[IsItJustMe]

63. Something not right about this whole damn story. If she is covering up, people should know.

[CreekDog]

74. hell, none of us has said for sure this is true, just speculation

meanwhile our opponents without hesistation call our candidate a Muslim.

fuck that. at least there is reason to be suspicious in our case.

[Nedsdag]

34. This sounds like an episode of "Desparate Housewives"

where Bree faked a pregnancy when her teen daughter got pregnant.

Any takers?

[Hutzpa]

50. I don't watch Desperate Housewives

but it does sound like a drama to me, so many unanswered
questions its just begging for.....hmmmm......

[helderheid]

56. Taken!

[helderheid]

55. not her baby

[AuntPatsy]

59. after reading all the evidence, I agree not hers and it does matter

considering the office she wants to hold, matters alot that she would lie, a few of the posters saying it does't matter are the same ones that pounced on edwards, interesting that.

[SoCalDem]

68. and because that helpless little guy is being used as part of her uplifting "story"

:puke:.. It's all so "Jessica Lynch" or like the "incubator babies of Kuwait"..hogwash.

[nene1985]

62. As a med student I have to say something on this

Older women do have a higher risk of producing a child with down's syndrome, but most downs syndrome children belong to women who are younger because they are more likely to get pregnant. In other words, the risk is higher in someone Sarah Palin age, but someone Sarah Palin's age, well it is very difficult at 44 to get pregnant due lack of viable eggs. However, someone her teenage daughter's age it is very easy to get pregnant so the likelihood of downs syndrome kind of evens itself out. If that makes any sense.

[helderheid]

65. so do family members mating

[Nine]

78. Where did that come from?

I think Palin's story is BS and that DUers following this is perfectly valid, but are you suggesting incest out of the clear blue? That's certainly not going to help things.

[Medusa]

72. And the odds of a 43-year old woman getting pregnant

are less than 3% without some type of fertility treatment. (She would have been 43 when she allegedly became pregnant with this kid). And why didn't anyoen notice she was pregnant until she announced it at 7 months, 1 month before the baby was born? And how is a 6 pound baby considered a preemie?

[Chloroplast]

81. A baby being 6.5 lbs at birth is hardly a preemie.

If the baby was that big at barely 8 months, she was at risk for serious problems like gestational diabetes. I think that as voters we have a right to question her judgment: even if she is the biological mother of this child, why take a flight that is as long as some international flights after your water broke? She's pro-life and HID a pregnancy for 7 whole months? Her story just doesn't add up and I want to know the truth. The public barely knows her and the stories of unethical practices are practically flooding in.

[tinrobot]

73. If the baby is hers, she'd be lactating and able to breastfeed.

If it was her daughter's, then her daughter would be the one breastfeeding.

[Lars39]

80. Don't have to have given birth in order to lactate.

[Celebration]

84. Can we ask for medical records?

I'd like to see them. This is just very suspicious.