Monday, October 20, 2008

She did what?

I was shocked to read this:

Sarah Palin
Nothing is known publicly about Ms. Palin’s medical history, aside from the much-discussed circumstances surrounding the birth of her fifth child last April. Ms. Palin has said that her water broke while she was at a conference in Dallas and that she flew to Anchorage, where she gave birth to her son Trig hours after landing.
Source: NY Times/MSNBC

I have never been pregnant, so I don't know much about recommendations for pregnant women, but I have heard that doctors recommend pregnant women do not fly during their third trimester. It was explained to me that the real risk is giving birth in-flight, without medical attention available. I seriously question the judgment of Sarah Palin if she did in fact get on an airplane when there was a strong possibility of her going into labor.

4,144 miles separate Dallas and Anchorage.

Mothers, pregnant women, doctors, nurses, Joe six-pack, please weigh in and let me know what you think.

2 comments:

bladio said...

Another reason you're not supposed to fly in your 3rd trimester is that you could have your baby far from home and you aren't supposed to let a baby fly until they are a certain age (not sure what age that is). So if you fly to Dallas and go in to labor, then you're away from your regular caregiver, perhaps away from your family, support team (the people who were supposed to be with you when you give birth), etc. So you're giving birth in a weird place, and then you have to stay there for, I don't know, 6 weeks or something. Where would you stay? (hotel - $$) What about all the supplies you have at home (diapers, clothes, car seat, bassinet, etc. - you'd have to buy a 2nd set of everything?)

So yeah, I think it was unwise for her to fly in her 3rd trimester. People do it all the time though, like, if they get a note from their doctor. But I'd only want to do it for a really important reason (family emergency or something).

--Josephine 6-pack

Ash said...

You bring up some very good points that I hadn't even considered. I was even more shocked to read that she got on the plane after experiencing contractions!

I read this excerpt from the Wall Street Journal.

Gov. Palin's opted to board a jet from Dallas in April while about to deliver a child. Gov. Palin, who was eight months pregnant, says she felt a few contractions shortly before she was to give a keynote speech to an energy summit of governors in Dallas. But she says she went ahead with it after her doctor in Alaska advised her to put her feet up to rest. "I was not going to miss that speech," she says.

She rushed so quickly from the podium afterwards that Texas Gov. Rick Perry nervously asked if she was about to deliver the baby then. She made it to the airport, and gave birth hours after landing in Anchorage to Trig, who is diagnosed with Down Syndrome. "Maybe they shouldn't have let me fly, but I wasn't showing much so they didn't know," she says.


I feel strange even talking about decisions Sarah Palin has made as a mother, but I think she has opened herself up to that and made it acceptable by talking about being a “hockey mom” and a mother to a special needs child. If she uses the fact that she is a mother in her campaign, then I feel I have the right to evaluate and question (not judge) her actions as a mother.