Pure speculation about why Palin hid her pregnancy

[Stinky The Clown]

She and her husband knew the child had Down Syndrome.

They wrestled with their moral beliefs and the practical aspects.

This choice would be difficult for anyone. To make it in public would be unthinkable.

They considered aborting and they considered keeping the child.

Once they decided, they went pubic.

The above is my own speculation. I can imagine it being true. I would not want to be in their shoes if it were.

[MrModerate]

1. If soap-opera biographies win presidential contests . . .

She's a lock. If other factors come into play she's doomed.

I'm betting on doomed.

[Kittycat]

2. Then she went in to preterm labor, and didn't seek proper medical attention.

Instead she stuck around to finish her speech at an Energy Convention in Texas, then insisted on traveling back to Alaska to deliver.

Children with Down's syndrome face very unique health risks, the simple fact that she had premature rupture of her membranes could have over stressed the child if they had any issues whatsoever. For a woman that touts no choice for woman, baby always first - she sure did put herself ahead of the situation. I'm glad nothing happened to the baby.

[norepubsin08]

3. Or it could have actually have been

her daughter's child?

[Oregone]

7. Its very likely hers. You are 11X more likely to have DS baby at 44 than 34,

much less than at her daughters age. The tin foil should not be donned on this one.

http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/downsyndrome/l/bldownssyn.htm

1 out of 40 babies are DS to 44 year old women (1 out of 475 are DS to 34 year old women, and its much less for women in their 20s).


Personally though, I think it is quite politically driven that her son enlisted on Sept 11, 2007, and will be deployed on Sept, 11, 2008. It seems just as politically driven that she is also a new mom, poised to grab PUMAs (yes, this took 1 year of foresight). Id rather think that she compromised the potential health of a baby by bearing it so late, such that its birth may be a political opportunity. Who knows though? But a mother who went back to work 4 days later seems like a mother who was not very interested in being a mother (financial concerns aside, which doesn't bother her anyway).

[janethussein]

4. And then after she ALLEGEDLY bears this poor

Downs Syndrome baby, she returns to work in 4 days? Excuse me? And those idiots are trying to feed me the "christian family values" BULLSHIT ? Give me a break ! I smell B.S. all over this story.

[qanda]

5. Pubic should be public

Just thought you'd like to know.

[JenniferJuniper]

6. Who looks pregnant in this photo and who doesn't?

[Oregone]

8. OH MY! Don't tell me this tin-foil BS has legs!

Just look at the statistics!

Having a baby at 44 is like playing Down Syndrome Russian Roulette. Most women KNOW they are rolling the dice on it at the age (but some do so anyway, which is their right).

It is improbable that a young woman would bare a Downs Syndrome child. Why does this seem more likely? I am gone all day and come back to this slimey swift-boating crap based on conjecture.

Come on! She is involved in criminal probes and the Republican party of Alaska is trying to oust her. She went back to work after 4 days, without a financial need, proving her ineptitude at being a mother. This former beauty queen has zero experience and is hated in her state by many. Why are people grasping at straws when they can be criticizing things that are quite apparent about her?

[HillbillyBob]

16. Has not stopped the Roveian Reich wing..

Turn about is fair play. Though I prefer to go after them on their real crimes.
Heaven knows there is enough.

[Eric J in MN]

9. Sarah Palin's front is obscured, and so she neither looks pregnant nor not.

Her daughter's stomach is shaped like that of some girls who aren't pregnant.

[orleans]

11. sarah at six or seven months months

?very


and this pic in march 2008

[Oregone]

15. Here she is at 8 months pregnant!!!

[Eric J in MN]

10. duplicate

NT

[seabeyond]

12. tonight i showed hubby and said, tell me the preg person.

he thought it pretty obvious. no i say, it is the mother. he rolls his eyes

he said ya right on getting on a plane after water broke too

there are things about this that is wrong

want to say specualtion and gossip, fine it is, but it doesnt add up

[JenniferJuniper]

13. You mean

all pregnant women don't jump on a plane in Texas to head to Alaska when their water breaks? Especially considering it was her 5th child and a high risk pregnancy at that? A pregnancy that she hid until a few weeks before she "gave birth?"

Bull. And there is nothing "tin foil" about grandma pretending to be the mommy to daughter's child. It used to happen all the time, and probably still does among the fundies.

It's all about deception. Secrets and lies.

And my cousin had a Downs Syndrome baby at 19. So to say it must be Sarah's because she's old is highly illogical.

[seabeyond]

14. you made me laugh. thanks. 80% of down syndrome is women under 35

but then they have the majority of babies and the risks increase hugely after 35. but you are right, to say cause child had downs then had to be older woman. not true

and i am bothered that this woman's water breaks and she can tell the world she did a meeting and then jumped on a plane. i had two kids. both water broke and straight to hospital. it makes no sense any woman would get on a plane without any help after her water broke. no sense

i cant stand lies. i cant stand pretending they arent. i cant smile and say, ok whatever i am told regardless if it doesnt make sense, wont call you on it. and i am fuckin tired of it the last 8 yrs

thank you

[Frank Cannon]

20. I did the exact same thing with my wife, who had not heard the story...

with the exact same results.

[seemslikeadream]

17. the adoption fell through.

Scenario one is that this whole thing is coincidence, and Trig is her son. Scenario two is that the baby's Bristol's, and that her parents knew all along, pulled her out of school and arranged to appear to be the parents from day one. Scenario three, which seems the most likely to me? Trig Palin is Bristol Palin's baby; she had arranged to have him privately adopted, but the chromosomal tests suddenly turned up Down's Syndrome and the adoption fell through. Faced with the knowledge that a Down's baby is far harder to place, the entire Palin family decided to go to plan B and suddenly announce Sarah's pregnancy, move the due date out a month to explain her not showing, and ensure Sarah was in the state when Bristol gave birth.

But even if that last scenario is the one that actually occurred, I don't see this reflecting badly on the Governor. Older women taking on the children of immature girls is a tried-and-true pattern in history, as is keeping it a family secret. And again: no matter how this happened, Sarah Palin and her husband knowingly brought a Down's Syndrome baby into their family.

While this is a curiosity, it's not something to be pursued for political gain. There is no bonus to prying into this family situation, and no fraud either -- Palin only took 3 days of maternity leave, so any fraud is more along the lines of people feeling misled. And given I think a huge percentage of parents would do the same as the Palins are alleged to have done, it would be sympathetic at most.
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/archive/2008/08/30/bristol-palin-pregnancy-is-sarah-palin-s-baby-really-her-daughter-s.aspx

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. My only question about this would be...how many 16 year olds have their babies geneteically tested?

Can Down's Syndrome be identified with sonograms?

[Horse with no Name]

19. My guess is that she wanted to keep her pregnancy quiet for professional reasons

I don't find that strange at all.
Perhaps with knowing that their were some birth defects with the infant, they chose not to make it public until it was no longer feasible in case she miscarried.
I believe in keeping private issues private.
It really isn't anyone's business WHY she didn't announce her personal business to the world.