Friday, November 14, 2008

A Bit More About Jaundice

A few questions have come up in comments about the possible timetable of the treatment for jaundice. I did post a comment to respond, but enough additional people have asked questions that I thought I would clarify here.

Here is a quote from a medical info site:

The cause of normal, physiological jaundice is well understood. During life in the uterus, the red blood cells of the fetus contain a type of hemoglobin that is different than the hemoglobin that is present after birth. When an infant is born, the infant's body begins to rapidly destroy the red blood cells containing the fetal-type hemoglobin and replaces them with red blood cells containing the adult-type hemoglobin. This floods the liver with bilirubin derived from the fetal hemoglobin from the destroyed red blood cells. The liver in a newborn infant is not mature, and its ability to process and eliminate bilirubin is limited. As a result of both the influx of large amounts of bilirubin and the immaturity of the liver, bilirubin accumulates in the blood.


This is "normal" jaundice. The problem comes in when some infants, for whatever reason, can't keep up with the "cleaning" of the blood and the bilirubin levels rise too high. These are the babies that need to be treated. Typically, this "higher than normal" level of build up does not become obvious until at least the second day of life, and in my experience it's usually 3rd - 4th day.

When a baby is born jaundiced or becomes noticeably jaundiced in the first 24 hours of life, doctors become a lot more concerned. This is not "normal" jaundice. It can have some far more serious causes. It would be very rare that a baby would be treated for jaundice in the first 24 hours of life... and still released at 36 hours. So while it's not impossible that Trig became jaundiced immediately after birth, was treated, and still went home the next day, it's very unlikely.

This is why I am stating that based on Cathy Baldwin Johnson's statement it sure sounds like Trig was readmitted to the hospital at some point after the 3rd day of life. This would be a typical course for this sort of jaundice, particularly in a baby that was a bit early. I find this statement inconsistent with the schedule that we have been told Gov. Palin kept in those first few days. Don't forget, her home in Wasilla is almost an hour drive each way from her office in Anchorage. We know she was in Anchorage that Monday at her office. We know she was in Anchorage that Tuesday, at Mears Middle School for an all-important speech to the Junior National Honor Society.

And I never meant to be "snarky" about the prayer requests. However, in my experience with families who attend the sort of congregations that it is my understanding the Palins do attend, they are very upfront in requesting prayers for hospitalized/ill members.

If Trig Palin was readmitted to the hospital on the 3rd - 4th day of his life, I find it very very surprising that no one knew about it.

82 comments:

Anonymous said...

Audrey,

I agree that none of the timetable makes sense. If Trig was born several days prior to Palin's trip to Texas, why would she continue the charade then rush back to Alaska? Just to give the speech?

Perhaps, and if so then the doctor's call that morning could have been that Trig had to be admitted to the hospital for jaundice treatment and she had better get back and claim Trig. That could make sense.

The larger question is: Why would the doctor include information about Trig's medical history in a letter supposedly concerning SP's medical history? What does that have to do with anything?

Dangerous

Anonymous said...

4 out of 5 of my kids were jaundiced at birth. Two of them were low birth weight. All of them went home normally and were not rehospitalized. I did take one back for blood tests and another had visiting nurses do heel pricks for blood tests.

I know a number of DS babies who were fine at birth and left the hospital on regular schedule. THough they may have had heart murmurs, been low birth weight, had jaundice, they were able to be monitored at home or just brought back to the doctors office for a recheck. In the case of Palin, she most likely knew the doctor well enough that she would have visited the baby at home.

I really think that she is just careless with her family medical care and well being. It is not a top priority to her. She puts herself and her job first. She knowingly went to the governors' meeting when she had a high risk pregnancy, and took the risk of flying even though she had leakage that day.

She seems to pull her kids out of school at whim, and I haven't heard a thing about early intervention therapy for Trig. She has been living in a bus on the campaign trail with here kids for quite a while, and yet now instead of settling back home, she is interviewing and off to meetings, again away from home. I don't think that one has to worry about her family life getting in the way of work.

Her first two kids were problematic. They definitely were not college material despite all of the advantages to be so. I don't think a rigorous education is on the top of her priorities.

I wonder about her daughter Bristol. You would think she would be with her intended, Levi Johnston. Have the two of them even been together these last several months after the RNC? It seems she was on the campaign trail with her mother. Usually when you are carrying someone's child, you are also preparing a life together even if a wedding date is not set, since the delivery date is imminent. Very strange.

However, I think Sarah was just careless with Trig's birth. I think she is his mother. Bristol was a wild teen and grounded, maybe or maybe not had mono, but was not going to be going to any proms regardless that spring since she was not in school. Odd we cannot get an accurate timeline on where she went to high school when this past school year. Appears she was at 3 schools, then left. Was living at home, in the governor's mansion, and with aunt at various times. When did she get together with Levi then? She would have had mono while conceiving?

The baby will be coming next month from what I hear which makes Trig unlikely to be Bristol's.

Anonymous said...

Regarding the jaundice and its treatment, it IS odd that Palin never mentioned it previously and she seemed to be out and about with Trig the Monday after his birth--at least according to an Anchorage Daily News story about his birth linked from Audrey's website. Maybe she did bring him back after that? or another member of her family did? I recall that on her governor's webpage there is a section on prayers and blessings for Trig--I may take a look to see if there are any references to jaundice. I remember being told to breastfeed like crazy when my children had normal jaundice--and really, I did nothing else! No government meetings..... Mary G.

Anonymous said...

I just want Sarah Barricuda to go home to Alaska and stay there! She is NOT a role model for motherhood. She appears very hyper to me in the way she walks and waves and acts in general. I feel sorry for her family, especially her children who must live their lives in HER shadow and to further HER ambitions. I hope for the sake of all Americans, especially the people who still believe she is "wonderful," that the truth about the birth of Trig is ultimately revealed.

Anonymous said...

Here is a theory posted by a reader at mudflats (ds55) that I found interesing:

This is my theory on Trig’s birthmother: Trig’s father is Track Palin, Sarah’s oldest son who is in Iraq. Trig’s mother is Sherry Johnston, who is Levi Johnston’s mother. (Mercede “Sadie” Johnston, who is Levi’s sister, called Trig her new little brother on photos posted on MySpace.) This may be a reason why the baby doctor is a specialist in child abuse. This may be a reason why Track was shipped off to the military. Photos of Sherry Johnston have been scrubbed from the internet. I copied a couple of them here:
http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z310/dsmyre/?action=view&current=sherry_johnston.jpg


Any comment, Audrey?

Anonymous said...

We've all seen the picture of Bristol with Levi from September 3rd at the RNC where she has the enormous bust that leads us to believe that she was heavily padded in case of leaks.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/5avtw8

The official story is that she is currently pregnant and is not a breastfeeding Trig as she is not his mother and any breast enlargement is due to her pregnancy. If the enlargement is supposed to be due solely to her pregnancy, then why do her breasts appear smaller on November 4th in the shot from the convenience store?
http://preview.tinyurl.com/6r7tvf

Shouldn't they be the same size as in September or even larger as her pregnancy progresses?

XXXX

Anonymous said...

A lay person can see jaundice in a baby. If Trig were jaundiced when he appeared in the governor's office, some one would have commented. The pictures we have seen do not indicate any jaundice, but perhaps the camera wouldn't pick that up. So none of this fits the time table.

Why would the doctor mention the jaundice treatment in a letter on Sarah's medical condition? I don't think she mentioned the last time she treated Sarah.

There was something in one of the links where the reporter attended a rally for SP in Alaska. He mentioned that Bristol and Levi were there sitting next to each other but not interacting. They did not leave together. Poor Bristol. I'd guess that wedding plans have fallen through.

On another link I saw that Kristy Johnston was an advisor to the Colony High School prom. Is she a teacher or just a concerned parent?

At some point we're going to see a deflation of SP. She's still on a high from the publicity and crowds. One reason for the tanning bed was to treat SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I can't imagine what that would be like in Alaska. But I also doubt that tanning beds are usual treatment.

Thank you for continuing this.

sandra in oregon

Anonymous said...

I listened to Palin's interview three days after birth (on Audrey's website), and she doesn't mention jaundice; I think she has the baby and the reporter takes a photo after the audio interview. I don't know why Baldwin-Johnson mentions it--maybe Trig was treated in the hospital and released with the equipment to continue at home? Also, Palin does not say she was induced in the audio (her account of the birth gets more ludicrous each time I hear it). I know Audrey was going to do a follow-up on the induction.... would Baldwin-Johnson say this (as the article explicitly claims) to emphasize that Palin was not in labor on the airplane??? Palin also states that her son Track visited Trig with some soldier friends soon after the birth. Photos??? She never mentions Bristol. Mary G.

Anonymous said...

Whether Trig is Sarah's or Bristol's (methinks Bristol's), pre-natal care is provided free by the Alaska Native Medical Center . Todd is part Native. I DO believe the free healthcare is too good to pass up, insurance or not (with insurance, there are still costs).
BTW, how are those freezing people in the villages doing? Has anyone provided them any help with winterizing their homes or getting heating fuel?
My point: The answer to our questions re Trig's parentage may be at the Alaskan Native Medical Center. Those people need money to survive. I think, given the right motivation, someone there will share info.

Anonymous said...

IMHO it's crystal clear that Palin is not Trig's biological mother. Additionally, if Bristol has her baby at the scheduled time, it will be crystal clear that she is not Trig's biological mother either. Can we have some focus on who, in fact, is Trig's biological mother here? I realize all this other stuff is important, but does it get to the heart of the question?

Anonymous said...

Off topic, sort of, but does anyone think that Sherry Johnston actually gave this interview? http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/29388
May not be the most reputable source...

Sunshine1970 said...

Even if Bristol has a baby in December, she could still be Trig's mom. I'm beginning to think more & more Trig was born earlier than April 18th. Maybe by a few weeks.

I'm beginning to think the reason the Palins had to scurry back to Alaska was not because someone was giving birth, but because there was something wrong with little Trig.

Anonymous said...

Getting Trig and Sarah and Todd at the hospital together is the only way that they could 'announce' the birth...

Trig clearly is NOT just hours old with jaundice, DS, and 1 month pre-mature in the pics with the Heaths (sarah's parents)

But without the "parents" there, Trig could not be admitted to the hospital... No doctor would have treated him without Sarah or Todd there...Bristol sure couldn't show up with him by herself.

It sounds like maybe something like this happened:

4am dallas time, something's wrong with Trig, Sarah gets a phone call, she calls CBJ, sarah says:
i can't just leave and go back AK with no reason, I have to give that speech or it will seem suspicious... so they decide, hey, why don't we just say your water broke and you had to get back...

So she gives her speech and then flies back (we all know that story)...

And then suddenly at 6:30 am Trig appears, and then later that afternoon for some odd reason, the Heaths start parading him around the hospital in front of reporters to prove he exists...

Is it really common for "grandparents" to be wandering the halls of the hospital to show off their 1 month pre-mature grandson that's got DS and is being treated jaundice just HOURS after he was born?

btw, something i read said he was released on 4/19 -- just a little more than a day after he was born -- Dr. CBJ says he went home after 2 days...

Anonymous said...

Actually, Todd is only 1/8 Native Alaskan (because one of his grandmothers is 1/2), making his kids 1/16 and any grandchild 1/32. While the family is obviously proud of this heritage, it is way too tiny to have any bearing on the matters discussed here. No entitlements.

- jwc

Anonymous said...

If they were hurrying back because Trig had already been born, then we would have to assume Palin would pretend to carry her baby to term and then introduce a one month (at least) old baby to the world as a newborn. A one month old would be very difficult to pass off this way. It doesn't make sense. The simpler answer is that Trig was born early unexpectedly. And the question comes back to who gave birth to him.

Anonymous said...

The Sherry Johnston theory can hold water if you consider her age (appropriate risk group for DS) and that May-December relationships are not that uncommon. Even with teenagers, as terribly inappropriate as that may be. The thing is, no one is going to say *anything* on this matter, even less than with the Bristol/Trig question, because you might be dealing with statutory rape (I don't know the age of consent in Alaska) and that is worthy of arrest. Bristol and Levi are merely teenagers who fooled around and got 'caught' if all we read is true. How even odder this situation would be if:

1) Sherry gets pregnant with Track's baby (that MILF nonsense again);
2) Track drops out of school and joins the Army to escape the situation;
3) Sherry finds out during routine amnio that she has a DS baby on the way and might want to terminate the pregnancy;
4) Sarah Palin learns about the true father of the baby, can't tolerate a termination, sees an opportunity to advance her pro-life agenda, pretends to be pregnant, and takes the baby as her own;
5) Bristol is horrified to find out that her brother was sleeping with her boyfriend's mom;
6) Bristol either intentionally or accidentally gets pregnant;
7) Sarah Palin is tapped as VP candidate and there is an immediate scramble to cover up;
8) All websites are scrubbed containing any information regarding anyone involved in the above scenarios. However, those folks are not as internet savvy as some and forget that the internet never forgets and some damning evidence is still out there but only in fractured form.

Yes, this sure does sound like a soap opera plot...and it's Friday so my imagination has been set free for the weekend. But you know, stranger things have happened. The hilarious theory of a thousand monkeys typing on keyboards who eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare? This is the level of effort required to sort this Trig situation out. So keep speculating and posting. The truth is out there, and eventually one person will spin the wheel just right and the lights and sirens will go off and you'll be a Winner! And I bet you, the truth will be so obvious we'll all kick ourselves for not seeing it sooner!

--Reader from Ohio

Anonymous said...

jwc - my research may be flawed, but I have found that ANY amount of Native blood (even as little as Todd's children and grandchildren) WOULD qualify them for free care. I cannot shake the feeling that Bristol had Trig at the Native Alaska Medical Center in late March or early April. I will find a link re what % constitutes free services and post (if I can still locate it). thanks.

Anonymous said...

Overall, what still makes most sense of all the data is that Sarah faked pregnancy to cover for Bristol.

As a trial attorney I can tell you that there are always some pieces that don't fit. Not every detail in this story that looks like a fact is going to turn out to be a fact.

I hope we find out the truth eventually.

But if not, we can still reach some reasonable conclusions on the basis of what we know now. For instance, we can conclude that no matter which explanation of the facts we consider, it reflects badly on Sarah Palin's character, judgment, integrity and qualification for public office.

- jwc

Anonymous said...

http://washingtonindependent.com/10743/palin-family-qualifies-for-free-federal-health-care

Unlike the vast majority of Americans, her husband and children had a good chance of qualifying for free, federally funded, comprehensive health care under a program of the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Indian Health Service.

Todd Palin’s ancestry grants another plus — it makes him and his children eligible to apply for free government health care.

“[Alaska Native Medical Center] does not have a blood quantum requirement,” said Wesley, when I asked what percentage of native blood a resident must have in order to receive the healthcare.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't Trig look smaller (and possibly younger) in the pictures with Mercedes than he does in the picture with the grandparents? It's hard to tell, but it seems that he looks heavier and has chubbier cheeks when he was with Sarah's parents in the hospital. I'm trying to compare the size of his head and facial features to the size of the adults' arms and hands; to me he looks smaller in the MySpace pictures.

Anonymous said...

Some posters are coming late to the conversation, so let's do some catchup for them:

1) There has been rampant speculation on who Trig's mother could be besides either Sarah or Bristol. I've postulated Willow. Others say Sadie Johnston. Other theories are even more far-fetched.

For any woman other than Sarah as the mother, one has to propose a reasonable scenario when Sarah would fake. Hence, Sadie (not Sherry, it's short for Mercede) is not likely the mother because a) there's no evidence of it and b) even if Track were Trig's father -- again no evidence -- it seems ludicrous that the governor of Alaska would risk such a deception to cover for anyone other than one of her daughters.

2) It seems implausible that Trig was born much prior to April 18. He looks VERY small in the picture with the Heaths and Sarah's frantic rush back to Alaska from Texas has to be explained. Perhaps little Trig was sick with jaundice and, hence, they couldn't hide him any more. So Sarah had to get back or she'd have to produce another child!

One has to wonder, then, exactly when was Sarah going to 'deliver' Trig, a newborn, if Trig were already a month or more old? That seems farfetched to think they could carry off such a ruse under public scrutiny.

So my point is that rampant speculation is fine, but we should always strive to incorporate all the facts and circumstances before hijacking the discussion with wild theories for which there is either no evidence (direct or circumstantial) or contradictory evidence.

Dangerous

Colleen said...

On HuffingtonPost.com under Piper's Sassiest Moments, there is a photo of Piper visiting at Sarah Palin's desk. The photo was taken in August. On the desk is a jar of Stage 2 baby food. If infants are just beginning rice cereal at 4 months, and then 2 oz. jars of stage 1 fruits & veggies are introduced after that....why is that jar there as if on hand for that day's meal? It is more appropriate for a baby over 6 months....I know this because I have 5 children...it was the same for all of them.

6+ months in August gives little Triggy Bear a birth month of......FEBRUARY??????!!!!!!

GraceR said...

My oldest had jaundice which developed 3 or 4 days after we got home from the hospital (can't remember--been awhile). Anyway, I didn't even notice it but a friend who is an RN came to visit and suggested that he might be a bit jaundiced. I took him back to the pediatrician who said yes, he had a bit of jaundice. I took him twice to the hospital (out patient) for treatment, and then a visiting nurse came and did testing for a few weeks after. It really didn't seem like that big of a deal at the time. We took a trip a few hours away to visit my in-laws after one of his treatments.

Anonymous said...

Colleen said...
On HuffingtonPost.com under Piper's Sassiest Moments, there is a photo of Piper visiting at Sarah Palin's desk. The photo was taken in August. On the desk is a jar of Stage 2 baby food. If infants are just beginning rice cereal at 4 months, and then 2 oz. jars of stage 1 fruits & veggies are introduced after that....why is that jar there as if on hand for that day's meal? It is more appropriate for a baby over 6 months....I know this because I have 5 children...it was the same for all of them.

6+ months in August gives little Triggy Bear a birth month of......FEBRUARY??????!!!!!!

-----------

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/648/slide_648_13053_large.jpg

there is the link to the picture with the baby food -- I can't tell that it's Stage 2 food, meaning something more than 'peaches' or 'apricots' which would be perfectly reasonable to start introducing if he was doing well with cereal already...

but good pick up -- we never know what can be found in a picture if we go over it with a fine tooth comb.

We also have to really examine what is said, by whom, and for what purpose.

Anonymous said...

Someone suggested that Sarah rushed back to Alaska to take Trig to the hospital to get treated for jaundice, that she had to do it because Bristol couldn't. OK, so Bristol (or someone other than Sarah) gave birth to Trig, and Sarah adopted him. But wouldn't Todd also have adopted him? So why couldn't Todd take Trig to the hospital? He's the other legal parent, right?

Anonymous said...

If Sarah and Todd adopted Trig, their names would appear on the birth certificate. So why didn't they release the birth certificate?

While the names of the parents would be changed after adoption, I don't believe the date and location of the birth can be altered on the birth certificate.

I agree, the hospital Trig looks older than the home photos.

Anonymous said...

The free health care available to Todd Palin's descendants could be the key, especially considering the difficulty of obtaining and keeping health insurance for a person with DS.

If a baby is born to Track's girlfriend (anyone know her name?), Trig can't get the free health care for life unless Track is identified as the father. Sarah could have chosen to make the baby hers and Todd's rather than have Track identified. And she could have let the mother travel with her as a babysitter.

If a DS baby is born to Heather Bruce, who already has two children one of whom is autistic, Sarah could have offered to raise the child as her own and Todd's, keeping the baby in the family and eligible for free health care for life through Todd. Besides, Sarah sees no need to change her own life for a special needs child, and she has teen girls to help.

It's possible that the baby had to be born in Alaska to qualify for this Native American program, thus necessitating Sarah's wild ride to Alaska to "give birth."

If Bristol had Trig, he is Todd's descendant. But if Sarah wants her state health insurance to cover Bristol and Trig in Wasilla, she may need Trig to be her baby and Bristol to stay unmarried. That also would give Bristol a better chance to be a normal teen student, maybe go to college. So much for that.

The US system of health insurance is really screwed up and people do desperate things, some bordering on insurance fraud, to keep coverage available for their families. How ironic if she has rearranged her life to ensure health care for Trig, when she is in a position to advocate for reform to help others in similar situations, but doesn't.

All speculation, of course, but health care availability for Trig could be the key. -B.

Audrine said...

First, let me state that I have never been all that convinced that obtaining insurance benefits would be a reason for someone to fake a pregnancy, an admittedly really risky and dangerous thing to do professionally and personally. However, that having been said, it was argued somewhere.... and I honestly don't remember if it was on this blog - we're up to thousands of comments now - or somewhere else, but it was claimed that Todd's grandmother is half native Alaskan, making Todd 1/8th and the Palin children 1/16th. Children of the Palin's children would then be 1/32nd.

It was said somewhere ... and I don't know if this is right, I am just repeating it, but that the benefits cut off at 1/16th. So while Track, Bristol, etc are eligible for a package of benefits because they are native Alaskan, THEIR children will not be. Some people were using this as an argument in favor of Sarah faking a pregnancy for Bristol, to bring Trig into the 1/16th umbrella.

Again, I don't even know if the 1/16th to 1/32nd issue is correct ... I never researched it, and I am not convinced that free insurance for life would be a reason to take such a risk.

I am just repeating this here.

Anonymous said...

I think the insurance issue is ancillary to the more crucial one of a 16-year-old pregnant daughter... although she may not have told her mother for a few months. Palin is brash and overly confident, but I can't believe she would take it in her stride regarding HER OWN daughter getting pregnant--and she didn't. This elaborate plan didn't come out of nowhere, and it didn't come without a lot of tears and grief. I really can't imagine how they all--particularly Bristol--can bear it. Mary G.m

Anonymous said...

IF Palin faked the pregnancy, I don't believe the reasons have anything to do with insurance. Or Bristol's welfare. Or Trig's well-being. NO!

After watching Palin the last few months, it's all about Sarah.
ALL.THE.TIME.

Ocean's opinion

Colleen said...

It's definitely Stage 2 baby food. Stage 1 comes in 2 oz. jars (tiny). The STage 2 food has a thicker consistency for older babies...it could still be peaches or apricots but not pureed as fine. I googled "when to introduce solids to a baby with DS and though it is recommended that you follow the same timetable as a normal baby, parents are advised that a DS baby may take longer to learn to eat solids...therefore, I can't imagine Trig would be ready for Stage 2 foods.

The photo appeared on Juneauempire.com on August 15, so the photo was taken before Trig was 4 months old.

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/081508/sta_319011461.shtml


Also, I'v been thinking of plausible explanations for when no baby arrives for Bristol. They could pick a day in December to announce that Bristol has given birth to her baby and put him/her up for adoption. How could we possibly challenge that? Private "fake" adoption...sealed records?!

Anonymous said...

One thing that continues to bug me is that Trig looks larger/older to me in the April 18 photo with Sarah's parents than he does in the photos with Sadie in the Palin kitchen (no date) or in the photos at the shower (May 5). Does anyone agree with that impression? Trig really looks tiny in the shower photos on Kristan Cole's blog but they were supposedly taken more than two weeks after he was born. Are we sure the baby in the hospital photo with Sarah's parents is actually Trig?

Anonymous said...

Sarah is strongly pro-life, in all circumstances. That seems like a more likely motivator than insurance benefits, although if she is claiming someone else's child as her own, I would think that it is indeed insurance fraud after the fact.

Maybe she was motivated to raise someone else's child as her own because she believed she was saving that child from termination. If a relative or close friend was considering terminating a pregnancy because the baby had Down's, she may have offered to take the baby. From her perspective, it may have been a very personal decision to do what she thought was right. As a bonus, politically, it helps show that she "walks the walk" in the pro-life community. This would not be as true if she had adopted a baby with Down's syndrome.

It seems that it may have been a quickly made decision (in late-Feb or early March). All the details weren't perfect, like having to go from normal size to looking very pregnant quickly. It also seems the baby may have come at an inconvenient time - that led to a quickly devised, nonsensical story about the trip back from Texas. She was making it up as she went along. If John McCain hadn't come along in Sarah's life, the rumors in Alaska would have died out and this story would probably have remained a family secret.

Anonymous said...

On a side issue - On the interview on the 22/4 (ADN webpage) SP mentioned that on the day of Trig's birth she had signed a bill in the hospital. The only bill that was signed from the 15th April to the end of the month was SB 149 (relating to redistibtion of used glasses).

Acording to the house minutes "SB 149
Message was received stating the Governor signed the following bill
on April 19 and transmitted the
engrossed and enrolled copies to the Lieutenant Governor's Office for permanent filing:"

This seems to indicate that the bill was not signed until the 19th April - well after Trig's birth had been announced and published.

Is this a) a badly worded minutes meant to indicated that only the transmission happened on the 19th April,
b) SP getting confued about dates and what day she signed the bill
c) evidence of lying either about signing the bill that date (to make herself look harder working) or b) about the date of the birth (and signing a bill on the real birthday).

Audrine said...

I want to comment on this most recent comment, in particular the phrase "making it up as she went along."

This is such a simple sentence, yet it says it all. If you have not done it yet, pour yourself a glass of your favorite adult beverage and listen... really listen... to the almost ten minute interview Gov. Palin gave to the ADN on Monday, April 21st. The link is here.

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

The audio link is in the right hand column about 1/2 of the way down.

Here's a link to a transcript of the entire interview.

http://www.palindeception.com/subpages/transcript.html

Tell me she's not making this up as she's going along.

Anonymous said...

anonymous at 7:50 said:
"Maybe she was motivated to raise someone else's child as her own because she believed she was saving that child from termination. If a relative or close friend was considering terminating a pregnancy because the baby had Down's, she may have offered to take the baby."

But that would mean Sarah cared about something other than herself. Please review the videos of Palin's interactions with Trig. If Palin paid as much attention to Bristol as she does to Trig, she probably did not notice Bristol was pregnant until the 8th month.

My opinion,
Ocean

Anonymous said...

Ditto the other commenter who said the baby food jar in the photo from the Huffington Post slideshow is a stage 2 food. Judging from the packaging, it looks like Beechnut brand - their food has that same reddish top with labels that have a touch of purple on the sides. If that photo really was taken in August, Trig would have been too young to be eating stage 2 foods. In addition to being larger in size than stage 1 foods, they're also thicker in consistency.

Annie
former Alaskan, now Texan

Anonymous said...

I can't think of any reason why she would have even PURCHASED a jar of baby food meant to be given to a child at least 6 months old, let alone purposely brought it to her office, when her baby was not even 4 months old. Wait--I CAN think of a reason! ;)

So are we sure that no manufacturers offer a larger size of stage 1, even in cereal? Babies snarf down cereal pretty quickly...it's been a few years for me, so I don't remember.
If not, well, hmmm...smoking gun?

I'm sure they could still come up with some explanation--homemade baby food just put in a jar, etc.--but for cripes's sake, I don't know if I can handle another "explanation" for something that should just be straightforward.

MC

Anonymous said...

can we please toss the theory that the baby is levi's mom?

a few posts ago, everyone was discussing how teens get grossed out when older parents have kids

im sorry, but one's mom bangin one of your teen friends is even grosser

and track has a gf...and palin has given that gal alot of choice jobs...cuz palin loves dishing out favors

so really...toss that theory out the window.

Anonymous said...

Questions on the ADN Interview on Monday, April 21st
1) What role does the "Bristol Bay relative" play, Trig is named after?
2) why is she referring repeatedly to the "extended family"? Who is it? I don't think she means her children by that.
3)As well as in other interviews, she never drops the name Bristol, almost as if this name has been erased and has dropped out of the family circle.
4) She is about to give something away in the last question: "It is very important that we have..." and than continues differently. - also, why doesn't she say that "I have" (one might add "the baby") but uses the pronoun "we"?
general question:
5) What is Todd's role in all of this? Could he be more influential than many suspect? It looks as if he is overseeing her (who knows even controlling). He is reading her e-mails (many of which are private and state matter...), has been reported on being present at meetings, he wasn't supposed to attend, has a palpable presence in the "kitchen"-interview -

However, there might be a "family secret" dating way back into the family history - which is why no one might ever find out the truth.

Anonymous said...

Audrey -- no, I won't tell you SP isn't making it up as she speaks. She's saying she called her doctor at 4 a.m., which was what, 1 a.m. in Alaska? She doesn't say she told the doctor her symptoms and asked the doctor what to do; no, she told the doctor she was staying at the energy conference but would try to leave early after her speech. She calls her doctor in the middle of the night to tell her that. Right. She's obviously trying to run a mental obstacle course. She knows she would be accusing her doctor of malpractice if she said the doctor knew she was leaking amniotic fluid, yet told her she could stay in Texas another twelve hours, and if she wasn't in active labor by then she could set out for Alaska. (I haven't looked it up, but I'll bet a doctor is free to disclose medical information if a patient lies about medical advice she receives and puts the doctor's reputation in question.)

Then there is her fuzzy language as to whether she "was really engaged in uh, labor activities," or "fully engaged in labor." Was she a pregnant woman or a labor lawyer? It was supposedly "nothing real painful but just knowing that, um, it was feeling like, I may not um, be able to be pregnant a whole nother four or five weeks ...." Right. And maybe not a whole 'nother four of five hours. She found herself caught between portraying herself as either criminally reckless because she knew the risk she was running, or as a complete idiot who had managed to give birth four times without learning the basics. So she says both that she called her doctor in the middle of the night and that there was no urgent reason to call.

But even if she wasn't making it up on the fly, what else could she say without repudiating something she had already said? That's the problem with lying. God creates reality. When someone tries to pull off his or her own little creation, it eventually runs into God's reality and doesn't survive the collision.

On a different topic, if people are going to speculate that Sherry Johnston is Trig's birth mother, why not consider the possibility that the father is not Track, but Todd? That would explain Mercedes' strange expression "mommy-in-law" for SP; SP is Trig's "mommy-in-law" and not "mommy"(or "grandma") because she is related to Trig not by blood but by marriage. It would also explain why Mercedes called Trig her little brother. This does, however, seem inconsistent with SP's happily posing with Mercedes, Bristol and Trig.

"Mommy-in-law" could also mean that Mercedes thinks of SP as Trig's adoptive mother, i.e. legal mother rather than birth mother.

I don't understand why people think SP wouldn't cover for Track (or Todd). I agree with the commenter who said this is about SP protecting SP's political career, not anyone else, and a tawdry family life would be reason to pass her over for VP even if she personally was not to blame.

Anonymous said...

Regarding: Babyfood on Sarah's desk - please see the post from "colleen"

Hi Audrey,

my girlfriend Kathleen and me have seen the picture with the jar of baby food on Sarah Palin's desk (see colleen's post above), and we have done some research, because this might be an incredibly interesting clue - and the result is surprising!

We are PRETTY SURE that the jar is of the product range:

Beech Nut "DHA plus"!!

Why?
- the lid matches (although it looks a bit golden on the photo, and on the internet we only found lids which looked silver - but the words and symbols on the lid matched perfectly, we think - it seems that the slightly "golden" look in the picture is because of light reflection)
- the "violet back" of the glas matches (can somebody please go into a shop and check that?)
- the shape of the glas matches - BUT here comes one very interesting point: the shape of the glas actually matches exactly the STAGE 3 FOOD (provided it's the product we think it is) - although the stage 2 glas is also close (we compared where the label starts on the glas)
- we looked at other baby-food producers, but no other glas of other producers matched

Only the Beech Nut Food for stage two and three has got a violet back (the "DHA plus" line) - and the jars for stage 1 are much too small anyway. Therefore it is definitely NOT stage 1 babyfood !!

Here are some links regarding the Beech Nut products:

http://www.beechnut.com/Our%20Baby%20Food/product.asp?P=38793&Category=1&SearchValue=5&SearchVals=About%209%20-%2012%20Months&ListValue=1&SearchType=By%20Age&ProdType=&Display=DHA

http://www.afdf.org/current_projects/index.html

http://www.beechnut.com/Our%20Baby%20Food/product.asp?P=38780&Category=8&SearchValue=1&SearchVals=New%20Products&ListValue=1&SearchType=By%20Age&ProdType=&Display=DHA

With a bit of luck we are on to something here!!!

(We just hope Sarah didn't had this jar on the table for "business reasons" - see the article/link above). But that would be too weird.

Patrick & Kathleen

Anonymous said...

By the way:

Did anybody notice that Trigs looks MASSIVE by now already?? Aren't down syndrome babies even smaller then other babies? But he is really big.

Watch here (pictures from Oct 2):

http://www.daylife.com/photo/07sm58efqMb3l/sarah_palin_trig_missouri

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0eZv1OLfCu33f/sarah_palin_trig_missouri

http://www.daylife.com/photo/01ql1IQfeOeFU/sarah_palin_trig_missouri

Patrick

Anonymous said...

I do agree that for Sarah, it's ALL about Sarah, but in that scenario, she would feel great about herself - "look what a great supermom I am, a governor with five kids, including a child with special needs". She undoubtedly loved the attention she got about the new baby. It would have really raised her esteem in the religious community, with fellow believers praying for her and telling her how wonderful she is for "choosing life". The best needs of the children are secondary...just like how she made the announcement of Bristol's pregnancy to save herself...and remember how the pro-life wing of the party swooned over how Bristol had "chosen life" too.

Anonymous said...

omg - audrey -- i had never heard/seen the interview -- i read the transcript -- that woman is all over the place... and incredibly vague... i dont know many women that are not only able to recount almost exact things that happened with their births, especially one as significant as this, nor would be excited to talk about it -- every woman wants to share her pregnancy/birth stories...

here's something that strikes me as odd...

Reporter: You said you felt some signs of labor, what were those signs?

Palin: Well not contractions so much because I had Braxton Hicks contractions for months -- (for months? and nobody noticed) as every pregnant woman does, and nothing real painful but just knowing that, um, it was feeling like, I may not um, be ale to be pregnant a whole nother four or five weeks knowing that it would be not a bother to call our doctor and let her know. And um she’s delivered how many babies over the year did she say?

--- Seems an odd thing to say.

Todd: Lots

--- Lots? What does that mean? And it was not lots -- CBJ is NOT an ob/gyn -- I cant imagine too many people wanting their babies delivered by someone that is not an OB/GYN when there's clearly enough OBGYNs in that area.

Palin: A lot. It’s been a couple of decades of her delivering babies. We knew to call her and just get her advice and, um, from there we again decided to skip the energy conference reception and come on home and get checked out.


---So SP admits that she had no intention of getting checked out before she got back to AK...weird.


then this:

But none of my babies had been early -- RIGHT, NONE of your other children had been early, so isn't the last one, that you know to have DS, coming early, IMPORTANT??

and being my fifth child I know what labor feels like (laughing) and if I had felt at all that I was really engaged in uh, labor activities I would not have desired to fly and, um, get back uh, to deliver in Alaska.

--- So 'not fully engaged in labor' makes you have the DESIRE to fly all the way back to AK??

But anyway, so no real huge labor signs.

-- but anyway? nobody is talking about whether or not she was 'active labor' or any kind of labor -- it was the water breaking that is the problem!



Landed in, uh, in Anchorage at about10:30. Got out to the valley at 11:30 and she met us at the hospital

-- Why didn't CBJ meet them at the Anchorage hospital where is also a practicing doctor? How many 'pads' did she go through from Dallas to AK with her water leaking? i sure as heck know that she would have been leaking all damn day...

checked me out and said, ‘Um, Yea you look, you may have it um tonight or in the morning.’

-- checked me out -- and 'you look'? what does that mean -- what not be specific? Yeah, upon an examination, she found that I had started dialating and active labor was emminent...

You *MAY* have it tonight or in the morning? It was already 11:30pm by the time she got there -- it was already almost morning to begin with. and palin's water broke almost 24 hrs before hand and she still wasn't 'in labor'.

And it was smooth, it was relatively easy, in fact it was very easy, the easiest of all of them because he was so tiny.

--- So tiny? He was over 6 lbs -- it's never easy to give birth and given the circumstances, how does a woman that spends 30 hrs in the childbirth process, had to be induced -- so says the doctor at some point -- and deliver prematurely is NOT EASY...

And, um, it’s just been absolutely wonderful. It was all, it just all seemed meant to be… the logistics

--- Logistics? The 'technicality' that she uses to describe the whole situation is so emotionless... seems to be the only reason for that would be if she's got no emotional attachment to the birthing process -- it's like she doesn't even believe her own story, so she tries to describe it 'objectively'.

that transcript is frightening and really sheds a light on the situation.

Anonymous said...

Jen,
I think you have a good catch concerning the "reported" timing. Can you find the news reports saying when he was born and released?
DMS

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have the baby food jar picture. The website "declines to show this page now". If you have another link, please post.
DMS

Anonymous said...

I think that a lot of people ignore the babyfood guidelines. Trig does seem a bit large, although that may have more to do with his not getting the physical therapy he needs. I believe Down babies/children have problems with metabolism and gain weight pretty easily, which is a health concern and a reason to get the therapy and help him reach those infant milestones. I think a more promising lead may be the whole question about whether Palin was induced, and why. Mary g.

Anonymous said...

Audrey said...
"First, let me state that I have never been all that convinced that obtaining insurance benefits would be a reason for someone to fake a pregnancy, an admittedly really risky and dangerous thing to do professionally and personally."

I agree this would normally seem unlikely but
1)Sarah is not beyond risky personal and professional behavior.
2)At the time her chances of entering upper echelons of the national scene so soon were very low. In four years, fewer of us would notice.
3)Even if she wouldn't normally have worried about health care, once she knew the baby was DS the picture changed. Not only do DS babies have more health issues, they have them for life, and it's been said that insurance policies often exclude their care.
4)While I believe she could have charitable reasons for providing for health care, she also could have personal reasons, knowing she couldn't stand by and let a grandchild or nephew do without necessary care and would end up paying out of her own pocket.

Time, I hope, will tell. (Sarah surely won't!) Thank you, Audrey, for this rational blog. I feel less crazy and alone for thinking the announced Bristol pregnancy didn't answer all questions. -B.

Sandy said...

Anonymous 10:15am
Here is link to baby jar picture...it's the 5th one into the slide show

http://tiny.cc/Lb85m

Anonymous said...

I don't think you got my last posting.

I listened to the audio of the interview on April 21 and caught, toward the end, that Sarah said she didn't tell the airline people that she was "nine months pregnant." The story had been that she was eight months pregnant.

About the baby food -- I am a Registered Dietitian and aware of the recommendations for progressing the feeding of infants. But observations have made me realize that many parents do not pay much attention to these. The kind of baby food says nothing about the age of the baby. Some one in the office may have gone to the closest convenience store and picked up whatever was available.

sandra in oregon

Anonymous said...

My point in bringing up a wholly different scenario (Track and Sherry) was that covering for Bristol does not make sense to me, given what I read about the acceptability and frequency of teen pregnancy in Alaska.

I do not believe any sane person (ok,ok we're talking Sarah Palin, I know) would take that much risk with so many lies, to simply cover for her daughter's teen pregnancy.

That said, from everything I've witnessed in the supremely bizarre behavior of SP and the others in her world, I believe ANYTHING is possible. ANY mother, any father. I bet we'll all be shocked as hell when the truth does come out.

Just imagine this: your husband (or your son) has an affair with a close friend (Sherry). You, as a good Christian wife and long-suffering martyr, take in the baby to avoid scandal and do God's will. You hope never to see that woman ever again, and then lo and behold, your daughter ends up pregant with HER son's baby. And that locks you two together for the rest of your lives. . .

I also second the theory that suggests the Wild Plane Ride from Texas was just a bluff to direct attention away from the real birth (and birth date), and to set the stage for the idea that "Oh, all the happened, so late at night, and in such a hurry, that's why nobody knew about the birth til it was over and done."

It may not be verification of a baby food label, but plausible human nature is more than just a wild theory. So until someone explains to me why Palin would cover up so HUGELY for one teen pregnancy in a culture and with a religion that accepts it as a norm, I won't buy it.

UNLESS the coverup was forced on Bristol and Levi's, the whole scheme perpetrated on them by her mother. Now THAT would make sense, given Palin's tyrannical nature. And it would also make sense that such a wronged teenage girl would get pregnant all over again. . .

Thanks, A, for allowing me to voice my opinions in a safe forum.

In the end I believe women will triumph in this quest for the truth.

Anonymous said...

From a NY Times interview:

At her baby shower, Ms. Palin joked about her months of secrecy, Ms. Lane said. “About the seventh month I thought I’d better let people know,” Ms. Palin said.

“So it was really great,” she continued. “I was only pregnant a
month.”

*****************

I think she was only "pregnant" a month too.

Anonymous said...

Regarding Jens comment on Todd saying Dr. Cathy Baldwin Johnson delivering "lots" of babies. A month or so ago I went through the Mat Su birth announcements back a year and a half and do not recall Dr. CBJ being listed as the doctor on any other babies. Has anyone else looked into this?

Anonymous said...

look, guys, we've been waiting a long time for the truth to come out. and i do believe it will, maybe when bristol doesn't have that baby, maybe in twenty years when someone releases a memoir. the only thing i care about is understanding what really happened. because, frankly, a lot of the bristol-palin-is-the-mother timeline does not make sense. but much more of the sarah-is-the-mother timeline does not make sense, either; in fact, it makes much less sense. i do not understand anything about this story. the only thing we can say, now, is that sarah palin is lying about something, and that we will get to the bottom of it,

Anonymous said...

PolySciSuzie, I read somewhere else(this awesome site or elsewhere) that she delivered VERY FEW babies. She did 3-4 deliveries that year *I believe,* and none were born to her patients. It's likely she was on call and delivered them in a emergency situation. I have 2 friends who are doctors, and one delivers babies sometimes when she's on call, and she's only a FP. But it's interesting she delivered no babies for any of her patients...except Palin's. This is probably b/c everyone else did the sensible thing and had an OBGYN instead. But Sarah and Todd went out of their way to throw in the lie that CJ delivers "lots" of babies.

The investigation into the baby food is brilliant-I never even noticed it. Also, I read the transcript of Palin's interview, which I hadn't seen yet. I think this is the best proof she did not deliver Trig!!!!! Despite her strained relationship with the English language, she has more ums, run-ons, and generally strange sentences than in any other interview. If you notice, she is able to speak clearly and concisely about the one thing that doesn't deal with Trig's delivery. She's almost coherent (LOL) when discussing how they (including the kids/Bristol) chose Trig's name. She speaks clearly and at length, in contrast to her other answers where it seems she was making it up as she went along, as Audrey suggested.

I don't believe anyone other than Bristol is Trig's mom. If you look at the photos of Bristol holding Trig vs Sarah holding him, you can see who seems to have bonded with the lil infant. A pic is worth a thousand words. Bristol cradles him protectively in her arms, looking at him with a mother's love. Even when she holds him vertically, she uses both her hands to securely hold him against her chest. In contrast, Sarah holds poor Trig vertically against her with no support for his head, like a sack of potatoes. Even worse, she passes him off to her 6 yr old to hold, once when Piper was wearing heels!!! Piper seems like a sweet kid, but I'd never let my 6 yr old daughter hold even a baby puppy if she had heels on!

And as for Bristol, it does look as if her breasts were wrapped/padded to prevent leakage. It's kind of confusing though, I think Audrey said that Down's babies have difficulty latching on and often have to be bottlefed? Maybe not in all cases?

I disagree that Sarah did it thinking that she would not be in the national spotlight. I think she did it *because* she thought she might! She was being tossed around as a possible vp candidate over a year ago (why no one knows LOL). Then Bristol gets pregnant again. I think so little of Sarah now that the conspiracy theorist in me thinks they might induce the poor girl so they could stick to the "5 mos preggers" story they put out. I just wish we could have closure on this issue, I really believe Trig is Bristol's and she should be allowed to acknowledge him as her son. I sincerely hope that things between her and Levi are still okay. Whether Trig is hers or not, this poor girl has been put through the wringer already on the national stage. =0(

Anonymous said...

I stand corrected (kind of). I was just reading Andrew Sullivan's blog post about Sarah & med records, and it linked to a NYT article. I said I had not seen any pix of Sarah cradling Trig/supporting his head, just her holding him practically slung over her shoulder. In the NYT picture however Sarah is truly cradling Trig, though she is not looking down at him the way Bristol does. Cradling him on stage though makes it look like he's a prop, not a baby.

Karla said...

I listened to Sarah Palin's audio account of her birth, and although I have long thought that--mostly because of her crazy birth story--Trig is not her biological son, I have a possible alternative explanation. Perhaps when she talked about how "things were progressing," she was really referring to the loss of the mucus plug, which happens a short time before labor begins. And maybe being too embarrassed to give that detail, she felt it was easier to talk about amniotic fluid "leaking." That would account for her knowing she might deliver soon, but not actually being in labor.

Audrey, as a medical professional, what do you think about this possibility? Could this account for how her birth story seems so unbelievable, yet she may in fact have given birth to Trig?

Anonymous said...

The audio interview of April 21st is interesting in several respects. First, Sarah says none of her other kids were early -- thus confirming that she was pregnant with Track when she eloped. (Like mother like daughter?) She says Trig is "doing great," not mentioning the jaundice issue. Her comments on the leaking and delivery are strange and vague, and there is no mention of being induced. The NYT comment that she was only pregnant a month is pretty strange too! But of course it's hard to say anything definitive. It's more a matter that the preponderence of the evidence is that her story is not credible, but we haven't got anything truly definitive. The doctor's letter is pretty strong on the other side...

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said:

"I listened to the audio of the interview on April 21 and caught, toward the end, that Sarah said she didn't tell the airline people that she was "nine months pregnant." !!!

The story had been that she was eight months pregnant."!!!

I had already come to the conclusion that Sarah Palin had been lying for some time...but that really confirmed it for me.... that Sarah is covering for her daughter Bristol.

I can understand a mother trying to protect her daughter when you live in a small town and hold onto Christian values as a badge of honor...but not when you are going to put your family's life in front of the National and International media!

What I think went really wrong for Sarah Palin's plan...Ambition! For ambition she threw her daughter under the bus when she should have pulled back and been a Mom who protected Bristol by being by her side and not manipulated the media with all of her lies!

With the "birth-date, birth-place and birth-mom for Trig" so uncertain and mysterious the statement coming from that interview with Sarah... is just another piece of the puzzle regarding the truth about Bristol being pregnant for the Second time and a protective Mom covering it up with lies.

Some pictures seem to be telling more of the story than Sarah probably realizes...considering Bristols enlarged breasts early in her second pregnancy. It looks like she was either breastfeeding Trig...or couldn't take the drugs used to dry up her breast milk because she was pregnant. And now she looks smaller as she has gotten farther along into the pregnancy. Normally breasts don’t enlarge or engorge early in pregnancy without the mom nursing or full with breast milk. And what about Sarah...I didn't notice once when she look post-pregnant or like a nursing mom.

Call it instinct or just plain mothers intuition ...everyone who is blogging here and following this isn't delusional or out touch with reality. I think we can all say something is really wrong with Sarah Palin and this story.

It seems like all we have received from Sarah Palin is a series of lies. Maybe Sarah Palin has a problem with telling the truth. Maybe it shows up when she comes across as "rambling" or "incoherent" or "sounding stupid"...when in reality...she is just bluffing... and lying about what is really going on in her life.

I don't think this is just about Trig being Bristols. It is about her life being out of control. This is about her relationship to her husband and his desire to have a job and not be the "parent" in charge, leaving the kids to be farmed out to friends and relatives. This is about the older children being out of control, partying, drinking, doing drugs and having sexual relationships without protection. This is about their children not attending school on a regular basis and them not understanding that this is irresponsible. This is about the secrecy of why and when Bristol changed schools. This is about "telling" photos that disappeared off the internet showing timelines of events. Or the "Big Lie" to all her friends, co-workers and family about the fact that she was pregnant...7 months pregnant...without tell anyone??!! This is about Sarah having a baby 1 month later while her daughter has been missing from sight for months with rumors all over the community about her being the one who is pregnant. This is about Sarah Palin lies and/or her incredibly irresponsible behavior and actions regarding how and when the delivery happened. This is about the medical records that should have easily been released to the press. This is about Sarah Palin and her ego and manipulation for personal gain without concern or respect for the consequences to others!

Sarah Palin was in "way over her head" or delusional or lying to herself and others about her abilities, qualities and experience to run for Vice President let alone capable to step in to be President of the United States if needed. It is so obvious. Just listen to her!! It is so obvious...yet somehow she has been able to maintain this deception as well!!

Sarah Palin seems to me to be a pathological liar who is out of touch with reality and is an absolute master of deception. What comes across as "stupid" or "incoherent"....when she is lying, bluffing, or miss-stating the facts...in her mind... justifies what she says and believes to be true....but obviously isn't!!

I don't want to be mean spirited...but this whole series of lies needs to come out...because she is misleading the American people. Someone needs to hold Sarah Palin accountable and as a Country we need to wizen up. Because to me Sarah Palin’s behavior has been beyond believable and yet she seems to mirror the inability of this Country to discern truth from fiction or our utter lack of apathy towards truth and integrity!

Anonymous said...

"So until someone explains to me why Palin would cover up so HUGELY for one teen pregnancy in a culture and with a religion that accepts it as a norm, I won't buy it."

Because the culture and religion do NOT accept a teen pregnancy. The religious right vilified Jamie Lynn Spears for getting pregnant at 16. The only reason why Bristol is not being vilified is because the religious right is using her as an example of "right to life". It's totally hypocritical.

One teen gets pregnant and has loose morals. Another one is brave for keeping the child. Go figure.

And since Palin is a HUGE proponent of teen abstinence, how totally embarrassing for her teenage daughter to get pregnant...!!! How dare the governor preach abstinence when her own DAUGHTER is not practicing abstinence.

So, Palin covers up her daughter's pregnancy.

It's ALL about Sarah... everything!

Anonymous said...

Another comment on SP "making it up as she goes along." This is irrelevant to the central question of what really happened, but may cast some light on why SP seems untroubled by her own inconsistent and nonsensical statements.

In the Gospels, Jesus tells his followers, "When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say." Luke 12:11-2 (Parallels in Mt. 10:16-20, Mk. 13:11).

When I heard SP in the Couric interview spouting nonsense with no apparent embarrassment, and remembering that she is a Pentecostal, these verses came to mind. Excuse the irreverence, but I don't think the Holy Spirit is on her side.

Unknown said...

@ --Reader from Ohio

November 14, 2008 2:41 PM

I think you're on to something.... Again, there's a Track angle.... there just is.

Why won't someone speak up???

GraceR said...

karla, I can't believe you mentioned the mucous plug. After trying for months to make sense of why a woman leaking amniotic fluid would take the risks she did to get home, and more importantly why any doctor would approve it, I finally read the interview transcript. It seems her father told the press about the amniotic fluid. When I read that she talked about things "progressing," it immediately hit me that maybe she probably lost the mucous plug (with it's bloody fluid) and knew that labor would start in about 24 to 72 hours. This happened with 2 of my kids---one was born about 36hrs. later and the other not for 2 more days.
If that were the case, it would make a whole lot more sense. But I can see not wanting to give those details out--just a little too much information for my taste.

Anonymous said...

Quote Colleen "On HuffingtonPost.com under Piper's Sassiest Moments, there is a photo of Piper visiting at Sarah Palin's desk. The photo was taken in August. On the desk is a jar of Stage 2 baby food. If infants are just beginning rice cereal at 4 months, and then 2 oz. jars of stage 1 fruits & veggies are introduced after that....why is that jar there as if on hand for that day's meal? It is more appropriate for a baby over 6 months....I know this because I have 5 children...it was the same for all of them.

6+ months in August gives little Triggy Bear a birth month of......FEBRUARY??????!!!!!!"


I believe that would be evidence Trig is DEFIATELY older than we are told. Can someone post a link to the site, I looked but couldn't find anything.

Dipsydoodlenoodle

Anonymous said...

To Jen in response to Colleens comment about the stage 2 food..

(http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/)

I couldn't view the page - maybe it's evidence and been pulled? Maybe I just can't view it lol.

dipsydoodlenoodle

Anonymous said...

I also can't view the second link for the stage 2 baby food
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/081508/sta_319011461

Very suspicious eh?

Dipsydoodlenoodle

Anonymous said...

Quote MC "I'm sure they could still come up with some explanation--homemade baby food just put in a jar, etc.--but for cripes's sake, I don't know if I can handle another "explanation" for something that should just be straightforward."

They could say that BUT, then they'd need an explination as to why they had a bigger jar of baby food (left over from Piper 7 years earlier) or bought a stage 2 jar, removed the contents and made a home made mixture....

Both scenarios would probably sound perfectly reasonable to SP, shame about the rest of us...

Dipsydoodlenoodle

Anonymous said...

QUOTE bacci40 said...
can we please toss the theory that the baby is levi's mom?


No one ever doubted that the baby was Levi's mam...the theory was that the baby was Levi's mams baby!

I don't mean to be rude but looking at the English in the statement above (it's to be assumed that the sentance is what I wrote), it may be that Mercede wrote a similar thing and we are to read between the lines of what it means. To me saying "she's my baby mamma" makes NO SENSE at all, however when you know it means "she is the mother of my baby" it makes sense - going back to the Mercede myspace comments - maybe she was writing coming from the new age American slang?

dipsydoodlenoodle

Anonymous said...

I’ve been looking at the links posted by Patrick & Kathleen (well done by the way). I can’t view the original photo (very strange eh?) so I’m going blind into believing these are the same jars; on one of the links there was a feeding guide http://www.beechnut.com/images/solid_advice.pdf (its a PDF) it has a picture of all of the different jars on page 2, there are clear shape differences between the jars for people who saw the original to be able to have an idea about which jar it may have been.

Dipsydoodlenoodle

Audrine said...

Eight months vs. Nine months.

I may be wrong but the way I interpreted this comment was as follows:

Even though she was leaking amniotic fluid and having some contractions, it was OK not to tell the airline anything because she was only eight months.

Now if she'd been NINE months, then she would have been obligated to tell the airline.

Again, I could be wrong but that is how I interpret the comment.

deb said...

Bristol was in a minor fender bender in February. Perhaps it was enough to put her into early labor.

Anonymous said...

Hi Dipsydoodlenoodle,

thanks for the praise ;-)

Don't despair - we have saved everything (or at least almost everything - definitely the original baby jar picture including screenshot of the HuffPost description - will check later and will get in touch with Audrey).

Patrick

Anonymous said...

Audrey said...
"First, let me state that I have never been all that convinced that obtaining insurance benefits would be a reason for someone to fake a pregnancy, an admittedly really risky and dangerous thing to do professionally and personally."

I agree this would normally seem unlikely but
1)Sarah is not beyond risky personal and professional behavior.
2)At the time her chances of entering upper echelons of the national scene so soon were very low. In four years, fewer of us would notice.
3)Even if she wouldn't normally have worried about health care, once she knew the baby was DS the picture changed. Not only do DS babies have more health issues, they have them for life, and it's been said that insurance policies often exclude their care.
4)While I believe she could have charitable reasons for providing for health care, she also could have personal reasons, knowing she couldn't stand by and let a grandchild or nephew do without necessary care and would end up paying out of her own pocket.

Time, I hope, will tell. (Sarah surely won't!) Thank you, Audrey, for this rational blog. I feel less crazy and alone for thinking the announced Bristol pregnancy didn't answer all questions. -B.

November 15, 2008 11:04 AM
Blogger Sandy said...

Anonymous 10:15am
Here is link to baby jar picture...it's the 5th one into the slide show

http://tiny.cc/Lb85m

------------------------------
This is the link you are looking for.

Colleen said...

The picture is still on Juneauempire.com

Someone reposted an incomplete link. The correct site is:

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/081508/sta_319011461.shtml

Anonymous said...

Hello everybody,

I have now uploaded several items on flickr that were discussed in this thread, so that we won't have to worry any more about missing links and disappearing pictures...at least not regarding some of the pictures and webpages that were mentioned here.

I have uploaded several items on flickr, the link to the photostream is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32527116@N06/

You will find:
- Sarah's "Baby Food Picture", including the screenshot from HuffPost
- Close-up picture of the baby food jar
- two screenshots from the Beech Nut Website
- the complete screenshot of this article:
http://www.afdf.org/current_projects/index.html
(which apparently disappeared, or maybe I posted the wrong link, but here it is now for eternity)

---and----last but not least:

- As an "extra", screenshots of the court case notices regarding Bristol Palin's various court cases - also an interesting read!

Another thing:

I would advise anybody to have a look at the photostream with the title "Whole Truth Campaign" of the flickr-user "DAKOTAFINE". You will find lots of pictures of Sarah Palin there, taken on the 26th February 2008 (the event on which those pictures were taken was a press conference of the Whole Truth Campaign on the 26th February 2008 which took place in the National Press Club in Washington DC, with Sarah Palin and Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler attending). BOY, does Sarah Palin look pregnant there!

The link to the photostream of DAKOTAFINE on flickr:

http://flickr.com/photos/dakotafine/sets/72157604011843036/

I wanted to add that "a long time ago" in 2006 I was involved as an "investigative blogger" in the "lonelygirl15" case and was one of the people who provided vital information to the LA Times reporter Richard Rushfield which led to the publication of the LA Times article on 13 Sept 2006 (maybe I should revive this contact one day...hehe) - AND through this very exciting experience I got to know how fast "internet investigations" can develop - in the case of lonelygirl15, it took 24-48 hours until the "house of cards" collapsed. Therefore I urge anyone here to stay on the case, because an army of "private internet investigators" can achieve a lot - and Andrew Sullivan, if you read that - PLEASE also stay on the case!

Thank you!

Patrick

Anonymous said...

I have NEVER seen a bigger bunch of conspiracy nuts in my life. You should all be horribly ashamed of yourselves.
Sheesh, I'm getting the heebie jeebies just being here.

Anonymous said...

Here's an "official" picture from that same conference. Does this woman look pregnant>

http://gov.state.ak.us/large_photo.php?id=106

Look at how she's sitting with her knees together. Seven months pregnant? You decide.

Here's another pic

http://gov.state.ak.us/large_photo.php?id=133

Now put a green or orange large scarf covering her belly? Could she be pregnant? This picture was taken May 9, 2008.

This next one floors me

http://gov.state.ak.us/large_photo.php?id=119

Taken April 22, four days after giving birth... ~ya think~ Four days after giving birth, I could barely get off the couch, let alone running to my office, signing bills, giving speeches, etc. Super woman, maybe, but it's also dangerous to her own health.

A woman's body needs time to recuperate from childbirth.

Anonymous said...

(Sorry if this is a duplicate, I can't tell if my comment went to moderation or not.)

I am a lurker with a spinning head. Whoever the mom is, that labor story has had me disgusted since the moment I heard it. I have a lot of thoughts on all of this, but the only one I can articulate at this moment is about the baby food.

Most babies don't start solids until at least month 4 in part because of swallowing problems, which a baby with Downs would definitely have. So whatever stage that jar is, it seems weird that he'd have been on solids at that point anyway, especially considering how much she talked about pumping.

Seriously, I just think the jar of baby food is on the desk as a photo op. I think it's supposed to say "Working Mom" and isn't a clue into anything other than how masterful she is in creating a facade.

Keep blogging. She is going to try to milk her candidacy for all its worth and we need to make sure the truth comes out before she tries to run again.

Jennifer

Anonymous said...

Dipsydoodlenoodle mentioned the possibility that Trig was born in February. The Mat-Su baby website does list a baby boy with the last name of Bradley that was born on Feb 7 by Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson. There's probably no connection, but it might be worth checking into. If Bristol gave birth to this boy, then it would have been completely possible for her to be pregnant again now.

Anonymous said...

Regarding my last post,it should have said that the baby born at Mat-Su on Feb 7th was delivered by Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson. Also, the baby's name was listed as Bradley Joe Reyes, Jr., born to Bradley Joe Reyes and Kritina Mae Reyes. I couldn't find any information about this couple on Switchboard.com, Anywho.com, etc. If any readers live in Alaska and can verify that a couple by that name actually exists, that would be interesting to know. Otherwise those names could be pseudonyms.

Just trying to leave no stone unturned, especially after it was mentioned that Trig could have been born in February.

Anonymous said...

Not being able to find the Reyes family on anywho.com, switchboard.com, etc. doesn't mean necessarily that these are fake names. Lots of people have unlisted phone numbers (and thus are not on those sites); and lots of people, younger people especially, have given up landlines, using cell phones only.