You're right. It was completely responsible of 44-year-old Sarah to fly from Texas to Alaska leaking amniotic fluid, and anyone looking for a reason, however speculative, for why she might not have treated her baby with such casual disregard is obviously just part of the liberal attack machine. :rolleyes:
Nah, just stone-ignorant of obstetrics and looking for something, anything, to beat her over the head with.
Heck, just from going to the obstetrician with my wife during her (uneventful) pregnancies, one learns that some babies are deliberately delivered
weeks after the water breaks. It is an issue and cause for concern, but not some sort of "Great Scot! Get that woman a fainting couch! You! Go boil some water and tear up the nearest set of sheets...And YOU! Set your hair on fire and run around in circles..."
Here's a clue: Not every pregnancy is a textbook case, and not every issue that pops up is cause to place the mother on bed rest and restrict her from movement or travel.
I would bet dollars to donuts that she called her obstetrician about the issue.
Well, well, here we go. Googling "palin flight amniotic fluid" should put to rest the speculation by budding obstetricians such as Dr. Andrew Sullivan and Dr. tyme.
Both Palin (who had already carried four other children to term)
and her obstetrician thought her good-to-go. Not only that, she was
induced when she arrived home, indicating she was no where near labor.
Story of Palin's Fifth Child, Trig
By LISA DEMER, Anchorage Daily News
Published: April 22nd, 2008 01:11 AM
Last Modified: April 22nd, 2008 12:05 PM
Gov. Sarah Palin was back at work Monday in Anchorage [trig was born 6:30 am Friday], holding a meeting on the proposed natural gas pipeline three days after giving birth to her fifth child.
....
Palin was in Texas last week for an energy conference of the National Governors Association when she experienced signs of early labor. She wasn't due for another month.
Early Thursday -- she thinks it was around 4 a.m. Texas time -- she consulted with her doctor, family physician Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, who is based in the Valley and has delivered lots of babies, including Piper, Palin's 7-year-old.
Palin said she felt fine but had leaked amniotic fluid and also felt some contractions that seemed different from the false labor she had been having for months.
"I said I am going to stay for the day. I have a speech I was determined to give," Palin said. She gave the luncheon keynote address for the energy conference.
Palin kept in close contact with Baldwin-Johnson. The contractions slowed to one or two an hour, "which is not active labor," the doctor said.
"Things were already settling down when she talked to me," Baldwin-Johnson said. Palin did not ask for a medical OK to fly, the doctor said.
"I don't think it was unreasonable for her to continue to travel back," Baldwin-Johnson said.
So the Palins flew on Alaska Airlines from Dallas to Anchorage, stopping in Seattle and checking with the doctor along the way.
"I am not a glutton for pain and punishment. I would have never wanted to travel had I been fully engaged in labor," Palin said. After four kids, the governor said, she knew what labor felt like, and she wasn't in labor.
Still, a Sacramento, Calif., obstetrician who is active in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said when a pregnant woman's water breaks, she should go right to the hospital because of the risk of infection. That's true even if the amniotic fluid simply leaks out, said Dr. Laurie Gregg.
"To us, leaking and broken, we are talking the same thing. We are talking doctor-speak," Gregg said.
Some airlines have policies against pregnant women onboard during the last four weeks of pregnancy, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises against flying after 36 weeks.
This was going to be Palin's last flight anyway, her doctor said.
Alaska Airlines has no such rule and leaves the decision to the woman and her doctor, said spokeswoman Caroline Boren. Palin was very pleasant to the gate agents and flight attendants, as always, Boren said.
"The stage of her pregnancy was not apparent by observation. She did not show any signs of distress," Boren said.
Palin never got big with this pregnancy. She said she didn't try to hide it but didn't feel a need to alert the airline, either.
They landed in Anchorage around 10:30 p.m. Thursday and an hour later were at the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Wasilla.
Baldwin-Johnson said she had to induce labor, and the baby didn't come until 6:30 a.m. Friday.
"It was smooth. It was relatively easy," Palin said. "In fact it was the easiest of all," probably because Trig was small, at 6 pounds, 2 ounces.
Palin said she wanted him born in Alaska but wouldn't have risked anyone's health to make that happen.
"You can't have a fish picker from Texas," said Todd.
Palin says she felt safe flying to Alaska to have baby
By Rebecca George
Originally published Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 12:07 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 2:25 p.m.
Governor Sara Palin and her husband, Todd, present their fifth child, a boy named Trig Paxson Van Palin, who was born April 18, 2008. The Palin's confirmed that Trig, their second son, has Down Syndrome.
Anchorage Daily News
Gov. Sarah Palin’s decision to make the eight-hour flight from Dallas to Anchorage has some people wondering about the possible safety hazards of flying while in the late stages of pregnancy.
The governor, eight months into her pregnancy, noticed amniotic fluid Thursday morning prior to giving a keynote luncheon address at the Republican Governor’s Energy Conference in Texas. After wrapping up the speech, Palin and her husband consulted with her physician about possibly flying home on an earlier flight. After being granted permission from her doctor, she and her husband proceeded with the trek home.
At that point, Palin was only having minor contractions and was not showing signs of active labor, Sharon Leighow, the governor’s spokeswoman, said on Monday.
After the baby was born, Palin told her staff members that her experiences from four previous pregnancies made her comfortable with the signs of active labor. She felt that neither she nor her baby were in any danger, and so she flew home as scheduled.
Most airlines have specific policies concerning air travel during pregnancy, especially during the final months. For women traveling in the final month of pregnancy, a “permission-to-travel” letter is required by her primary physician. However, most restrictions rely on an honor policy that leaves the decision to notify the airline in the hands of the passenger.
The governor did not feel the need to inform the airline of her condition, Leighow said.
Alaska Airlines is one of the few airlines that does not have a policy regarding flight during pregnancy.
“We leave the decision to fly up to our customers and their medical advisers,” according to Alaska Airlines representative Caroline Boren.
Palin told her staff that she would not have boarded the plane had she thought she or her baby were in danger.
Had Palin needed medical assistance during the flight, ground agents and flight attendants for the airline are highly trained to look for signs of distress or other concerns with a passenger’s condition, Boren said.
“Governor Palin was extremely pleasant to flight attendants and her stage of pregnancy was not apparent by observation as she didn’t show any signs of distress,” Boren said.
Flight crew members are not specifically trained to assist in labor during a flight. But had Palin gone into active labor while en route to Anchorage, the crew would have been prepared to offer medical assistance through a system known as Med Link, a medical advisory service that allows crew members to radio for medical help during the flight.
The flight would not have needed to land, barring any emergency with the delivery.
No medical assistance was necessary for Palin during the flight.
Palin’s flight landed at 10:30 p.m. Thursday. She and her husband drove to the Mat-Su Valley Regional Medical Center, and she checked in with her doctor an hour later.
Trig Paxson Van Palin was born seven hours later.
The governor confirmed Monday that early testing showed that Trig was born with Down syndrome. The syndrome is a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome.
Trig is the governor’s fifth child. She told her staff members that Trig was the easiest delivery of all her children.
Truly, I don't expect mere fact to quell the obstetric speculation and Palin Derangement Syndrome, but one ought to try to help disabuse the ill-informed of "what they know that ain't so."
