Sarah Palin's Birth
There have been numerous flags raised, largely valid, about the birth itself. Supposedly, early in the morning on Thursday April 17th, (around 4 a.m. in Texas which would have been around 1 a.m. in Alaska) Palin who was at a conference in Texas, called her doctor in Wasilla / Palmer from Texas, to report that she was leaking amniotic fluid and having contractions that were different from contractions she'd been having for "months." (Contractions no one among her office staff noticed, by the way.) In a later article, she tried to minimize this saying that she was not "really" in labor at this point. Here's another article in which Governor Palin makes the argument that, although leaking amniotic fluid and having contractions, she was not "engaged" in labor and thus OK to fly back to Alaska.
(All medical professionals agree: If a woman is leaking amniotic fluid and having contractions, she is in labor.)
She has stated that her doctor agreed with her decision to return to Alaska. She then gave a "luncheon" speech (as per the official state of Alaska web site), took two separate flights, one from Dallas to Seattle and the second from Seattle to Anchorage, then drove approximately one hour from Anchorage to a small (39 bed) regional hospital to give birth. (Here's a link to some info about the Mat-Su Regional Center.)
Here's a basic timetable, put together from numerous sources which summarizes what we know. Times are a bit confusing since during the course of the trip, Sarah Palin would have also GAINED three hours, as she moved from Central Time in Texas to Alaskan Time in Anchorage.
April 17th - 4 a.m. Central Time - 1 a.m. Alaska Time - Gov. Palin calls physician to report signs of labor, specifically that she was leaking amniotic fluid.
April 17th - 12 noon (approximate) Central Time - 9 a.m. Alaska Time - Gov. Palin gives "luncheon" speech.) Leaves in such a hurry for the airport that the governor of Texas thought she was having the baby right then.
April 17th - 2:30 P.M. Central Time (11:30 - A.M. Alaska Time) (This is speculation, based on CURRENT Alaskan Airline schedule.) Flight leaves Dallas for Seattle.
April 17th - 4:40 PM Pacific Time (3:40 P.M - Alaska time) Flight arrives in Seattle. Since they gained two hours, this is actually a 4 hour and ten minutes flight.
April 17th- Numerous web sites state that Gov. Palin arrived in Anchorage "around 10:30." Based on current schedules, there are two flights that go from Seattle to Anchorage, one that leaves at 7 PM and arrives at 9:46, the other that leaves at 8 PM and arrives at 10:47. This gives a layover in Seattle of either two hours, ten minutes OR three hours ten minutes. It's impossible to say whether the schedule has changed since last April, but this is probably pretty close to what was in existence then. Departure times are in Pacific time, arrival times in Alaska Time. This is a 3 hour 45 minute flight.
April 17th - Approximate 10:30 Alaska time. Arrives Anchorage. This is now approximately 21 hours after initially calling her physician. Total time in air: 7 hours 55 minutes PLUS either a two hour or three hour layover in Seattle.
April 18th - Approximately midnight. Arrives Mat-Su Regional Center in Palmer Alaska, 23 hours after initially calling her physician.
April 18th - 6:30 a.m. Trig Paxson Van Palin is born weighting 6 pounds 2 oz.
Here's a long article from Dallas Morning News from September 8th that gives more info and new details about the birth.
Comment: As time has passed, we're getting some additional information about the birth. For example, this article addresses the issue of why she waited so long to reveal news of the pregnancy. The explanation? She and Todd wanted to "absorb" the news that their son had Down's AND she was afraid that the people of Alaska would be concerned that she could not fulfill her duties.
Some of the spin, however, is clearly disingenuous - even false - at this point. For example, it is now stated here (and in People magazine) that she "hid her pregnancy with scarves and shawls." She certainly was photographed wearing scarves frequently during this period. However, I return you to the photo taken February 6th - and the video of her on the walk around Juneau about two weeks later, on the Palin Pregnancy Photo page. No scarf, shawl, or "artfully draped accessory." Also, no sign of pregnancy. It's also stated here that she had to announce the pregnancy because "people were starting to talk." In fact this has never been stated anywhere else. At the time of the announcement, it was made clear by numerous Alaskan news outlets that NO ONE suspected, and that the news was greeted with utter shock.
April Flight attendants stated after the news of the birth was released the next day that they were surprised because "the stage of her pregnancy was not obvious" and "she showed no signs of distress." (This is throughout two flights, totally nearly eight hours in the air.)
Here is the link to the article.
Comment: What was she wearing, a burkha? Without getting too explicit, when women have premature rupture of membranes (PROM) they often leak enough to require hospital grade bed pads to be changed under them hourly, or even more often. And she sat on airplane seats for eight HOURS? YUCK. She was an experienced mother of four who had given birth four times before. She had to know… repeat HAD TO KNOW... that if she was having even mild contractions and leaking fluid that it was at least a possibility that she would deliver on the airplane. It simply defies ALL credibility that she would have gotten on the plane under those circumstances. Period.
Here's another piece of weirdness. Much has been made of the fact that there was no announcement of Trig Palin's birth on the Mat-Su Hospital website. But a clever search engine friend has led us to the following discoveries. I am quoting from his email directly.
You should note that there apparently was a Trig Palin birth announcement up on the Matsu Hospital website, but it was taken down. Run this Google search, and see what you get:
trig palin site:www.matsuregional.com
How about that?! Then try: trig site:matsuregional.com
No mention of Trig on those pages, but there certainly appears to have been one at one time. I have tried all the search engine caches, however, and it's too late to see what it said. Apparently, it was put up and then taken down.
I tried it and it works. Try it for yourself. The explanation as I understand it is that Google "remembers" that those words were on that page even if the words are no longer there. Here is a screen shot I took when I tried it.
