1999-2010

Monday, September 01, 2008

So this photo proves Sarah was pregnant after all?


Interesting. Even Kos closed the book momentarily on the Sarah Palin fake pregnancy story because a photo of a heavily-suited, "visibly pregnant" Sarah Palin emerges amid the great evidence that it was her sixteen-year-old daughter who'd actually given birth to a Down Syndrome baby earlier this year.

Sarah shocked Alaska and her colleagues when she announced her pregnancy in her seventh month. Her daughter, meanwhile, had been yanked from school for five months, supposedly with mononucleosis.

If the governor indeed give birth, we like the judgment issue better, anyway.

Sarah had flown to Dallas, Texas in her eighth month of pregnancy when reports say she began leaking amniotic fluid. Rather than head to the nearest hospital, she flew eight hours to Alaska, to a sub-par hospital, where she gave birth.

Flying in the eight month of pregnancy? While leaking? The flight crew didn't even know she was pregnant.

Here's a story from the Fairbanks, Alaska Daily Newsminer from April 22nd, when Sarah Palin's judgment was already an issue:

Palin says she felt safe flying to Alaska to have baby

By Rebecca George

Gov. Sarah Palin’s decision to make the eight-hour flight from Dallas to Anchorage has some people wondering about the possible safety hazards of flying while in the late stages of pregnancy.

The governor, eight months into her pregnancy, noticed amniotic fluid Thursday morning prior to giving a keynote luncheon address at the Republican Governor’s Energy Conference in Texas. After wrapping up the speech, Palin and her husband consulted with her physician about possibly flying home on an earlier flight. After being granted permission from her doctor, she and her husband proceeded with the trek home.

At that point, Palin was only having minor contractions and was not showing signs of active labor, Sharon Leighow, the governor’s spokeswoman, said on Monday.

After the baby was born, Palin told her staff members that her experiences from four previous pregnancies made her comfortable with the signs of active labor. She felt that neither she nor her baby were in any danger, and so she flew home as scheduled.

Most airlines have specific policies concerning air travel during pregnancy, especially during the final months. For women traveling in the final month of pregnancy, a “permission-to-travel” letter is required by her primary physician. However, most restrictions rely on an honor policy that leaves the decision to notify the airline in the hands of the passenger.

The governor did not feel the need to inform the airline of her condition, Leighow said.

Alaska Airlines is one of the few airlines that does not have a policy regarding flight during pregnancy.

“We leave the decision to fly up to our customers and their medical advisers,” according to Alaska Airlines representative Caroline Boren.

Palin told her staff that she would not have boarded the plane had she thought she or her baby were in danger.

Had Palin needed medical assistance during the flight, ground agents and flight attendants for the airline are highly trained to look for signs of distress or other concerns with a passenger’s condition, Boren said.

“Governor Palin was extremely pleasant to flight attendants and her stage of pregnancy was not apparent by observation as she didn’t show any signs of distress,” Boren said.

Flight crew members are not specifically trained to assist in labor during a flight. But had Palin gone into active labor while en route to Anchorage, the crew would have been prepared to offer medical assistance through a system known as Med Link, a medical advisory service that allows crew members to radio for medical help during the flight.

The flight would not have needed to land, barring any emergency with the delivery.

No medical assistance was necessary for Palin during the flight.

Palin’s flight landed at 10:30 p.m. Thursday. She and her husband drove to the Mat-Su Valley Regional Medical Center, and she checked in with her doctor an hour later.

Trig Paxson Van Palin was born seven hours later.

The governor confirmed Monday that early testing showed that Trig was born with Down syndrome. The syndrome is a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome.

Trig is the governor’s fifth child. She told her staff members that Trig was the easiest delivery of all her children.

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