Yes we do have numerous references to Sarah Palin breastfeeding and the fact that she was photographed with Trig in a nursing sling is certainly an argument in her favor in this matter. However, I have not seen a single statement from anyone who has actually been physically present when she fed him.
Furthermore, as a lactation consultant I know that breastfeeding Down's babies is almost always MUCH more difficult than feeding a normal newborn. They tend to have poor muscle tone and require a lot more patience and effort to feed. In fact on several occasions among my own clients, women who had successfully nursed previous children made the decision to pump breastmilk and simply bottle feed it to their Down's infants, because they felt the feeding process was so frustrating for both them and the infants that it was not a net benefit. I have also worked with a couple of women who did eventually breastfeed successfully, but it took a lot of time and effort in the first weeks. I have never worked with a mother who simply nursed a Down's infant spontaneously with no problems.
The point of this is we have concrete reports of Sarah Palin in her office in Anchorage (almost an hour from her home in Wasilla) on the Monday after Trig's birth, and photos of her giving a speech the next day. This has never rung true to me knowing that the third to fourth day is the day that the milk really comes in, your breasts feel like hot rocks, often your baby still doesn't really have the "hang" of nursing (to say nothing of the fact that this baby was Down's)... not a day I would have wanted to put on a business suit and give a speech!
No, there are no pills you can take to "start breastfeeding." It is possible to re-lactate, but it is not an easy process, and requires many months of prep and pumping to stimulate the breasts before the adopted baby arrives. There's no way Sarah Palin could have pulled something like this off without her staff knowing that she was doing it.
Regarding Bristol looking "way pregnant" at SNL. I have suggested the possibility since the beginning of this blog that Bristol may well be pregnant, just not as pregnant as has been claimed. If she is Trig's mother and became pregnant around the first of June, she would have been 22-23 weeks pregnant the night of the SNL show. This is not too early to look pretty pregnant with a second pregnancy. The one quick look that we got of her that same day did not show me someone who is "huge" by any means.
I find it odd that no photos of the family arriving at the show were put up anywhere, either by the news media or just folks who had cameras with them. Her appearance was big news and I would have thought the arrival would have been photographed. I am going to try to confirm with SNL/NBC on Monday if Bristol was there and if there are any photos available. It has been posted elsewhere that Bristol was not at the show, but I can't find where I saw that originally.
55 comments:
What if Trig's mom is Sarah's sister Heather and not Bristol? Sarah herself has said that Heather is devoting her life to her autistic son. Maybe Heather was overwhelmed at the idea of another special needs child, and Sarah said, "We can do it," knowing what a big help her daughters would be with the baby.
Ms. Palin has a history of not hesitating to take on enormous challenges, challenges that many wise people would back away from. Plus Sarah knew that a Down Syndrome infant would add another star to her Republican hat. Maybe her children do not even know that Sarah is not Trig's mom. It would be a pretty big secret for them to keep.
Ohio mom
I read in a tabloid over the weekend, I think it was Life & Style, that Lorne Michaels of SNL had a little party backstage after Palin's performance, and even got a cake for "one of the Palin children celebrating a birthday", which we of course know is Bristol. There were no photos or mention of a pregnancy.
Just because someone here said they saw Bristol the night of SNL doesn't mean they did. In fact, what they described her wearing isn't at all what we have seen of how Bristol dresses, with the exception of big events like the RNC. So I don't believe that person. Sorry.
Appalled
This is a popular photo (used on lots of sites/articles) out there of supporters waiting for Palin to arrive at NBC Studios for the SNL show. The credit is given to David Karp / Associated Press. Is he an official photog for the campaign?
http://www.azcentral.com/ent/celeb/articles/2008/10/19/20081019palin.html
When you search for David Karp, you get this album of 500 photos of Palin on the campaign trail.
http://www.pixcetera.com/popeater/sarah-palin-on-the-trail/39546
photo #8 of 500 who is that in the background? Willow?
#10 of 500 has Willow and Piper.
#34 of 500 is from early January of 2008 with Palin sort of with a side view, but nothing definitive can be gleaned from it
#57 has Palin carrying a bottle and Trig in an infant car seat
#85 shows Willow feeding Trig with a bottle
#90 shows Willow holding Trig with a bottle.
#96 shows Willow holding Trig with a bottle
#420 & a few after is Palin leaving SNL/NBC Studios on 10/25 – who is the person next to her with the sunglasses on (at midnight or later)?
#434 & #435 is her motorcade arrival at NBC Studios (no photos of her arrival or getting out of the vehicle) (Some of these photos show up in various articles on the internet.)
There are no photos of Palin getting out of a vehicle at SNL or who actually accompanied her to the show.
Are cameras restricted at campaign rallies for Palin? Does anyone know? Did anyone search Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket for recent campaign photos or arrival/departure of Palin?
I think Trig's real parents are Track Palin (Sarah's oldest son who is in the military now) and Sherry Johnston (Levi Johnston's mother).
Sherry Johnston is an older woman which would explain Trig's Down Syndrome. Also Levi's sister, Mercedes, referred to Trig as her little brother on her MySpace page.
I think Sarah Palin adopted Trig and shipped her son off to the military to cover up the story.
Also interesting is that photos of Sherry Johnston can no longer be found through Google image search. I copied earlier news photos of her here:
http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z310/dsmyre/
dsmyre - Wow, that would certainly explain the cover-up. Isn't there a Mr. Johnston? Didn't Track do at least part of the 2007-2008 school year in Michigan? Does anyone remember where?
How funny that two other people have suggested 'older' women in that family! I had determined to write and suggest Molly Heath McCann. Because a Downs Syndrome baby would bankrupt Molly and her current husband: but Sarah, as Todd's wife, has that very helpful Federal medical program for native Americans.
If it's Levi's mother, the matter could be easily proven by mtDNA. But if it's Bristol or Heather or Molly, the family that shows such a united front will be pretty much united on that, too.
This is a truly fascinating puzzle! Thank you, Audrey, for the time and energy you are giving. grammy
Apparently, some medical records will be released early this week. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/palin-to-releas.html
I am wondering how many pages of medical records we should look for.I assume there should be about 20-40 pages covering her recent pregnancy? Is this a reasonable guess?
Track Palin lived in Portage, Michigan in 2006.
http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/news/index.ssf/2008/08/son_of_alaska_gov_sarah_palin.html
I think the thing to keep in mind is that if you are not pregnant it is very possible to fake looking pregnant. But if you are pretty far along in a pregnancy, for most people it is impossible to fake not looking pregnant.
So multiple pictures of Sarah or Bristol looking pregnant don't prove anything, while just one picture of one or another not looking pregnant, at the relevant time, is very probative.
I do have one other comment. I've followed this blog with interest and respect. I won't vote for Sarah Palin, and I don't respect her as a political figure. But I have to say that agreeing to raise someone else's DS baby (and I too am sure he is someone else's baby) does earn my respect, no matter what her reason. I just hate lies.
Don't you think if she was going to be that honorable .. that that wouldn't be something to hide? That is nothing to cover up. So I doubt very seriously she is doing anyone, but herself, any favors. They may probably come out and say this was a heroic act NOW, to get past this issue and make her look good, but if she really was that good they would have been using this all along to gain sympathy support.
Appalled
I agree with Appalled. I hope that if the Palins did indeed choose to raise someone else's child as their own, it was with the desire to do good. I can't help but feel, though, that if it was completely honorable, why the need for secrecy?
When the rumors started flying after her pick as VP, why not just come out and explain the situation without naming names, and ask for our understanding for their privacy? While that may not have stopped all the talk, pursuing ithe matter after that would have made the pursuers look like insensitive clods, and rightly so IMHO.
But no, instead they chose to throw Bristol under the bus, as Audrey put it some time ago. And, actually, if Trig is Bristol's, it is getting harder for me to fathom that a 17-year-old's pregnancy would be such a big deal that their world would implode. Why make it such a coverup?
I guess the worst possible thing I can think of is that they are protecting someone from some sort of criminal behavior. I would like to be wrong about that. For a long time, a part of me has felt sorry for SP even while I've been pondering this issue, but I am starting to wonder. Would an honorable person really accept a position in the national spotlight and two days later, expose their daughter's pregnancy to the eyes of the world instead of coming out and addressing the real issue? If Troopergate is indicative of how the Palins attempt to engineer situations to match their needs, I don't know what to think. Like I said, though I'm no Palin fan, I hope I am wrong here. Poor kids.
Sleuth for Truth -
Thanks for posting links to this great gallery. Lots of stuff here to look at.
In answer to your question about who is sitting next to Gov. Palin as she leaves SNL, I am pretty sure that this is an aide or personal assistant. I have seen her several placed before. She is quite visible in the video of Sarah Palin entering the Wal-Mart in Ohio,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwA6w8rRnaQ
and a lot of people mistook her for Bristol in that video. But I am quite sure it is neither Bristol nor Willow. I have seen her at least one other time taking Trig off stage. She always wears a headband like this. Why she has sunglasses on after midnight, I have no idea.
Sorry, the above post was from MC.
And also I wanted to say that I thought the campaign had backtracked and WASN'T planning on releasing medical records as of last week.
I wonder if what Jay linked to above is a first line of defense against any publication that they may have caught wind of...
I wouldn't be surprised if the campaign just releases a 1 page letter from her doctor saying that she's healthy---just like Obama did. That would have to satisfy the press because Obama did nothing more than that---so they couldn't insist on all her records if Obama, who is running for Pres, didn't release his.
I think it was done to insure life-long, free health care through the Indian Health Services for the disabled child of a relative or close friend.
It also seems that Sarah and her church have gained control of the board of Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. It's not a stretch to think that Mat-Su knows about and is going along with the deception.
The Anchorage Daily News, the largest paper in Alaska, endorsed Obama today. Maybe someday soon someone who knows what happened will feel it is safe to speak out.
Isn't insurance fraud a crime? If Sarah and Todd Palin file even one medical claim for Trig, then it becomes a proven fact that he is not their child, then what happens to them? grammy
From an article in The New Yorker:
Also in dispute is whether Palin disclosed to the campaign, as she and officials have said, that her unwed teen-age daughter was pregnant. “I am a hundred per cent sure they didn’t know,” McCain’s longtime friend said. Another campaign source, however, insisted that McCain’s team knew about the pregnancy.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/27/081027fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all
I don't know if this woman is the baby's mother or not--but I thought I'd share my story just in comparison.
I have 4 kids---my first one was born when I was 27...I gained 57 lbs with this pregnancy (yea I can't believe it either), and it took over a year to lose the baby weight. When I got pregnant with my next 2 over the next 4 years I "only" gained 35 lbs. with them. My career then took off and by the time I was 40 I was a jr. partner in an ad firm.
At the age of 42 I was shocked to learn I was pregnant---disbelief is all I can describe. Over the previous 10 years I had begun running 10k's and working out at Gold's gym. I was in great shape and determined not to gain like I had with the other pregnancies. I watched my diet, worked out and ran, and ended up only gaining 16 lbs. with the pregnancy. Unfortunately, due to those extreme efforts (at least my doctor surmised as much), my son was born a month early, weighing only 5 lbs. 14 oz. He was healthy and is doing great to this day. I barely looked pregnant until the 6th-7th month (and I'm very short), unlike my other pregnancies. Since I had not expected to deliver early, I was in the middle of a huge ad campaign when I went into labor and returned to work 4 days after giving birth. Although I was breastfeeding, I was able to bring my portable pump to the office and use it every 4 hours. When you need to work things out, you can. Being pregnant and breastfeeding a child should not hinder women in their careers..and it doesn't.
As a partner, the hardest thing I had to do was inform my other partners that I was pregnant. None of them had expected that---and of course expected me not to be able to pull my share as a new mother. I delayed telling them until I had to---a little stressed over their reaction. Palin had just been elected governor--I can understand her hesitation in announcing a new pregnancy so soon after.
lilmssunhine89
Did you wait until the seventh month to tell your mother about your pregnancy?
Sarah Palin does not do anything unless there is something in it for her.
My opinion... she pretended to be pregnant to cover up for her pregnant teenager daughter. It would be embarrassing for the abstinence governor to have a pregnant teen. Sarah did not want the negative publicity for her position nor her abstinence program.
I highly doubt she pretended to be pregnant for her son, or sister or anyone else.
When the questions came about the baby mother, Sarah had already claimed to be the mother and could not change the story. Since she was now running for vice resident, the stakes were even higher than before. She told Bristol she would not cover for her anymore and created a cock-a-mainie story that Bristol was pregnant. I think it was revenge on her daughter. Now Bristol has to pretend to be pregnant.
My highly active imagination, only. But.. It could be true. Think of who we are dealing with... a highly aggressive, ambitious woman.
I find Bristol's school records highly relevant to this discussion.
Isn't it ~funny~ that her son is a high school drop-out, her daughter dropped out during junior year (mono, baby, whatever) and neither of her younger children (Willow and Piper) seem to be attending any school. The question has been asked, and I expected to hear the campaign has hired a tutor. Instead, Palin claimed that they girls have been going back and forth and getting homework done in between. Has there been any times when the girls have NOT accompanied Palin at a rally?
Her son-in-law-to-be is a high-school drop out, too.
How important is education to this woman? NOT...!!!
"Did you wait until the seventh month to tell your mother about your pregnancy?"
of course not--although I waited until the 6th month to tell my partners.
Having been fortunate enough to have 4 healthy babies, I don't know how I would've reacted had I been told I was having a down syndrome baby though.
Re Emma - to be fair, I believe Track Palin graduated from high school. It's the putative son-in-law to be Levi Johnston that is the high school dropout.
It is obvious that education is not a high priority for Emma either. Track Palin graduated from High School.
Those of you who spread rumors, distorted facts and innuendo are vicious, sad people who really need to find a positive way to fill your time.
Disgusted
Would you make fun of someone with a learning disorder? How do you know that Levi didn't spend most of his public school years struggling in a system that does not address the needs of those who do not fit into the McGraw-Hill mode of learning?
Does it make you feel smarter by putting down an 18-year old kid who is - at the very least - trying to make a go of giving a the baby-to-be a shot at having 2 parents?
Shut up unless you have something constructive to say.
Disgusted
A little sex education and information about contraception would have helped both Bristol and Levi immeasurably. And a bit of drug and alcohol education would not have gone astray, either.
I think Audrey has been great about encouraging thoughtful and civil consideration of some pretty perplexing issues which go to our most heartfelt and intense beliefs and opinions about family and truth and other values. Let's please not take other people's postings so personally that we go after one another for raising questions and voicing opinions. I cannot help but think of the irony here. Speaking for myself, I would not have had the least bit of interest in the Palin children or anyone in their circles had their mother not started these questions flowing by her own public pronouncements, and publicly offered up her own teenage daughter's pregnancy for worldwide appraisal in the first place. But I feel entitled to question the questionable, as respectfully as I can.
Okay, now I do feel a bit sorry for Levi if he is learning disabled, as Dangerous seems to imply.
Sorry that was Disgusted, not Dangerous, who is implying that Levi Johnson is learning disabled.
If so, that is really sad and even sadder that Sarah trotted him out for public consumption at the RNC.
Sarah Palin truly is a diva. I found this recent reported comment from a McCain insider interesting to say the least.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5igWA77jTUWXP5cqP7Xy1MDq8I1ZQ
The McCain sources said Palin had repeatedly gone "off-message" recently, suggesting she appeared to be looking out for herself.
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," the McCain source said. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else."
A McCain source quoted by CNN added: "She is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."
Oh, excuse me... I was quoting Andrew Sullivan:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/how-anti-intell.html
"Her eldest son is a high-school drop-out. Her eldest daughter has had, so far as one can tell from press reports, very uneven attendance in high school, and no plans for college."
I think Andrew Sullivan may be wrong about Track being a high school dropout. From what I have read, Track spent most of his senior year attending high school in Michigan -- allegedly because that is a better place to play high school hockey than in Alaska -- and then returned to Wasilla High to graduate.
I also read that Track is in a safe zone in Iraq, assigned to driving high brass around. I wonder if that assignment was just the luck of the draw?
Interesting tidbit from Liz Smith in this week's celebrity gossip; Bristol Palin had a manicure-pedicure at a posh NY salon "last Saturday" (presumably the 18th).
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10232008/gossip/liz/palins_star_isnt_going_away_134832.htm
I wonder if any of the Democrats in the salon noticed her condition.
--Sandia Blanca--
Someone suggested searching Flickr. These were the dates posted with the pictures of their being taken. I cannot vouch for their accuracy.
January 26, 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47901510@N00/2221848952/
February 26, 2008 (several photos in album from that date)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dakotafine/2301703030/
April 7, 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30006608@N07/2808649919/
April 9, 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30007920@N03/2809336800/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbSlc4XGGnk
Her one and only son.... hummmmmm???
Wow! that April 9th is about the most damning photo I have seen so far. How are you able to date it 4/9?
Tina in CA said...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbSlc4XGGnk
Her one and only son.... hummmmmm???
Oops.. I goofed! This was October of 2007. Trig wasn't born yet. Sorry about that... I got too excited!!
~Emma said...
Oh, excuse me... I was quoting Andrew Sullivan:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/how-anti-intell.html
"Her eldest son is a high-school drop-out....."
So Emma and others -
Wow what a shock that a REPORTER COULD BE WRONG!" Yet you quote and repeat what these ambitious bozos 'report' under the guise of news.
Hey...remember fact-checking? Seems Andrew Sullivan has forgotten about it.
Keep swallowing the hype and the lies. Keep Squawking and GAWKING. It's fuel for the fools.
You be gull-gull-gull-i-BULL and full of bull.
Disgusted
Disgusted
Sarah.Hoax,
Flickr has a search that lets to choose a set of dates from when the picture was taken or when it was uploaded.
Of course, I chose the option of when it was dated. If you have a date and time set up on your camera, you can upload it as such. Even if you first upload photos onto your computer and then from the file folder online, the date will stick with them on photo sites.
Hopefully, this will load correctly. This is my search of January 2008 through May 2008.
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=%22sarah+palin%22&d=taken-20080101-20080601&ct=0
The April 9 photo is on page two and is in an album by votemccainpalin.
Again, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the date attached to the photo.
Here are some more photos.
Bristol on 8/29/08
http://flickr.com/photos/29498869@N07/2818628614/
http://flickr.com/photos/29498869@N07/2817745997/
April 10, 2008 Palin with Joe
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/view?q=palin&psc=G&filter=1#5192913932466744370
Was this going to/coming from NBC studios for her SNL appearance?
http://gothamist.com/2008/10/18/palin_on_snl_countdown.php
Sarah with Trig
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/ZKRaOBBv-55/Palin+Campaigns+Pittsburgh+Area/w92w1KRutJR/Sarah+Palin
Galleries of Palin photos, mostly from the campaign. Most are credited photographers from Getty Images North America. This site must be updated quickly as there are photos from a Kissimee rally today, October 26.
http://www.zimbio.com/Sarah+Palin/pictures/pro
Palin and Piper in an ice cream store with Piper (!) carrying Trig’s baby seat. How old (and what kind of arm strength?) does Piper have?? Those baby seats are HEAVY with a kid in them!
http://community.livejournal.com/palin_confusion/2008/10/20/
A few photos of Sarah Palin arriving in NYC with Trig.
http://justjared.buzznet.com/gallery/photos.php?yr=2008&mon=10&evt=palin-saturday&pic=sarah-palin-saturday-night-live-03.jpg
Audrey, will you remove the lengthy, repetitious posts above that seem to be designed to frustrate readers? Thanx.
We all appreciate that you have a life and are happy to work with your schedule for host the discussion. You do a fine job moderating.
I can think of NO reason that Sarah Palin would fake a pregnancy to cover for anyone but one of her daughters. All other scenarios make ZERO sense for any demonstrable motive. If she wanted to raise someone else's child as her own, she could do so by adoption or just keeping it in the family. There would be no reason to fake a pregnancy to explain Trig. That would simply be foolish.
If Sarah isn't Trig's mother, then either Bristol or Willow is Trig's mother. Piper is too young to have a child, or we would logically have to consider her.
Either Sarah medical records will confirm she's the mother or they won't. I'm guess they won't, or at least not convincingly. They will probably just mudding the waters.
The other unequivocal piece of information we will receive is whe Bristol's baby is born. We might then be able to rule her out as Trig's mother. Then again, maybe not.
All mysteries tend to coalesce around the truth sooner or later. I think we are getting there. This is not the Kennedy assassination.
But even with that, I recently saw a highly scientific documentary that was using newer technology to recreate the Kennedy assassination. I think it was on Discovery Channel. They had marksmen attempt to recreate the shot of the "single bullet theory". They made artificial bodies complete with bones and everything. Guess what? They got it to work on the first shot.
Along with some other tests, they showed conclusively that a single gunman could have done what the Warren commission reported.
My point is everyone should relax. They won't be able to keep it secret forever. Occam razor applies. Sarah Palin is not the mother. A closely watched thin woman can never hide a pregnancy into the 7th month. After she loses the election with McCain, we'll learn the truth because they will have nothing to lose.
Dangerous
Why does everyone look for a negative perception of Palin? Especially women. What is wrong with all of you? Palin is a strong, intelligent woman that is a role model for women of all ages.
I read Tracy Helgesons Blog and I really used to like her art. But when someone is looking to criticize someone or thinks they have knowledge of how to breastfeed a down baby. Hey I had breast milk for at least 10 years and I only had one baby! Ladies please concentrate on yourselves and stop reading the trash.
Trash Madonna, or someone that shows their vagina in a book and then becomes a billionaire. WTF?
I used to like tracy Helgesons art, but I didn't know she was the kind've person that was interested in all the trash on this site.
Wow, women are really terribly hard on other beautiful, smart women. You all need to get a life.
Hey, troll.
Perhaps you are not a blogger yourself, but I'm pretty darn sure that anonymous posters leave an easily identifiable IP address that is visible to the person running the site. Not too hard to trace back if necessary, if you know what I mean.
You might want to consider that before you post again.
Re - Why does everyone look for a negative perception of Palin? Especially women. What is wrong with all of you? Palin is a strong, intelligent woman that is a role model for women of all ages.
Well, let me just quote Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, who has long been one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States, who, under President Reagan, served as Solicitor General of the United States and, who until he recently announced that he had voted absentee for Obama, was on McCain's campaign committee.
In his letter to Trevor Potter, the General Counsel to the McCain-Palin campaign, Mr. Fried asked that his name be removed from the several campaign-related committees on which he serves. In that letter, he said that chief among the reasons for his decision "is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."
That's why we don't like Sarah Palin -- because at a time of deep national crisis, we can't afford to have a vacuous bimbo a heartbeat away from Commander in Chief. Any other questions?
The pics posted on the link by Sleuth for the truth don’t match up with the numbers on this site. You can click thumbnails to see them all quickly and skip to the relevant ones.
Dsymre, interesting theory there with Track Palin and Sherry Johnston (Levi’s mother). If it were the case it may explain why he was shipped off to military school…just as Bristol was supposedly shipped of to an aunts? Mercedes (Levi’s sister) did refer to Trig has her “baby brother” or was it “brother baby”– because I remember thinking it was a bad way to explain anything. Americans use baby mamma and stuff to explain their baby’s mother, so maybe she’s saying it’s her brother’s baby? Or in fact it is her brother. (an example of which is by ~emma above “When the questions came about the baby mother”) – sorry Emma I don’t mean to single you out it was just explaining my point so I am sorry now if I offended you.
I’m going with dsymre’s theory there: Anonymous below Dsymre I don’t think Tracks school history really matters because he can still attend school all year if someone else is having his baby! On a previous article by Audrey – it states somewhere that Track and a few army buddies came down to see the baby…do you think your friends would rush down to see their mothers baby, or your friends baby brother unless it was maybe a son? But then that’s telling other people and hence chances of slipping up are increased.
Also Sarah carrying Trig in a nursing sling doesn’t mean anything, she could just be carrying him around in it for ease, not because she’s nursing him…
Dipsydoodlenoodle
After seeing a pregnant friend yesterday, I doubt that Bristol is 7 months pregnant, just from that one shot getting out of the limo. My friend is due January the 1st, and she is quite large. She could not hide it even under a sweatshirt.
If all the evidence was that Sarah never showed much during her supposed pregnancy with Trig, then I could concede that maybe Trig was her baby, but there is so much more to the story. I think Sarah is one of those liars who can't keep her story straight. She doesn't have a sense of logic, and doesn't think out her lies beforehand.
I do think that the family had decided to let Bristol carry the baby, stay out of school with "mono", and put the baby up for adoption. That is what the original plan was, IMO.
Then they had the amniocentesis, and found out the baby had Downs. Because the baby would be hard to place, they decided to claim the baby was Sarah's. At the time, it probably sounded like a good idea. They could hide Bristol's pregnancy, and save Sarah's political reputation.
I remember some peeps on a message board I go to having a lengthy debate about how Sarah could do her job and still be a good mother to a special needs baby. Little did I know at the time, that Sarah would become the VP candidate for McCain.
If this story breaks at all, it may be years from now, when one of the family writes a tell all book about this dysfunctional family.
As much as I want the truth to come out, I think it may not be out before the election. That's okay, because there is enough ammunition against Sarah out there to put an end to her political ambitions. At least I hope so.
Audrey, sorry about sending a bad troll over, I didn't even know I had one! I linked to your blog because I thought it was interesting and that you and (most of) your commentors make really good points about what may have happened. And yes, I also wanted to mention what had been keeping me from getting much work done lately:)
I don't really get what the issue is with whether Sarah is breastfeeding Trig, or not.
Adoptive mothers breastfeed all the time, even if they have never given birth themselves.
As far as I know, equipment or medication isn't even required for this, yet very advanced medication and equipment would be available to the Palins.
Many adoptive mothers do attempt do breastfeed. However, it is in fact a very big deal and it is extremely rare to build up a full milk supply. Women also attempt to relactate sometimes when their own infants have shown themselves to be very allergic and intolerant of all forumlas. I have worked with several such cases, where infants were critically ill, and even these mothers who are obviously very motivated often are not able to build a full milk supply.
Most lactation consultants will admit that they are thrilled if a woman they are working with ever is able to meet 50% of her child's nutritional needs with human milk. Adoptive mothers who are very determined to breastfeed will often supplement their baby at the breast with a feeding device that uses small flexible tubes that are taped to the nipple. These women will state that they are 100% breastfeeding (and believe me my hat goes off to them!) but they are not feeding 100% breastmilk.
Being able to express a small quantity of milk is common even years after weaning. It certainly does not mean that if you put a baby to the breast you'd be able to feed the child even a small percentage of what was required.
For a woman to relactate, she must begin pumping - regularly - at least four weeks before the birth.
To the previous anonymous poster:
Please don't feed the trolls with that type of speculation. What purpose does it serve? Let's focus on Sarah and her potential for lying to the American people to protect her interests. Her children's lives, except as they may or may not inform us about their mother's behavior, is beyond our scope.
Oh how I wish Cajun Boy's media 'tease' would come out with a major story! There is something there -- besides Bristol though, something is up with Track. I'm convinced of it.
To Audrey:
Thank you for the detailed information and such a thorough response.
I take your point that Breastfeeding "normally", or to the same nutritional requirements as most birth mothers would not seem at all likely if Palin is an 'adoptive' mother.
However, I would like to point out what I should have said initially, which is that Palin appearing to breastfeed to backstage onlookers or staff would not be conclusive either way. I guess that part is fairly obvious to everyone already, I think my main issue is that having given birth and likely breastfed all of her previous children, Palin would have the experience needed to "fake it" convincingly, if not biological experience to make actual lactation more likely or productive.
I should also apologize for not having read this blog post more thoroughly to begin with, Audrey, I jumped to looking back through photos after the first part.
I ended up here after reading the teaser on Cajun Boy, I hadn't been up the aspects of this story before that, and I've been a bit excitable since I started looking through all of this.
Thanks very much for making the site, it's been a great read, and I appreciate your reasoned approach.
To the poster who wants to know why we are "looking for a negative perception of Palin" I ask, why do you think Palin is a good choice?
Read this essay:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pam-atherton/why-some-smart-women-thin_b_137416.html
Just wanted to point out that sandy beach's reply to an anonymous poster was in response to a now deleted post that had speculated a bit about Track Palin. I think maybe patrick thought it was referring to his question about nursing.
Glad that comments are moderated now - that will definitely help keep the civil dialogue going that I've appreciated about this site!
MC
Cajun Boy reported last Friday that a certain newspaper has an "unsavory" story about Palin that's legit. They were considering not running the story at all, it's that bad. But now the word is that the story will run Monday, the day before the election. It's something about the birth of the Down Syndrome baby, Trig.
See Cajun Boy's note and reader comments here:
http://cajunboyinthecity.blogspot.com/2008/10/something-to-keep-eye-out-for-this.html
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