(*NOTE*: my Life-partner G is guest-blogging this post: )
34 years ago, in my early 20's and already having given birth to two children, I had a high risk pregnancy. At 25 weeks, I started leaking amniotic fluid. I was put in the hospital immediately. Because of the leaking, I was told, the risk of infection to myself and the baby was very high. I was kept in hospital until the erratic labor subsided. My "water" never actually broke for the week I was in the hospital. However, the day after I was sent home my baby began delivering spontaneously, feet first - no "broken water" no labor pains.
How can a woman, who has already given birth 4 times and is in her 40's, not know that each pregnancy is different? How can a woman , who has gone through 4 pregnancies, not be well versed in the dangers that can happen and know how to take care of herself ? How can a woman, who knows her pregnancy is high risk, not know that things can take a turn for the worse at any moment? Every expecting mother gets the standard pamphlet about pregnancy at her doctor's office. The restrictions on travel later in pregnancy, the warning signs of things that can go wrong and when to call the doctor.
And, how can a doctor advise a pregnant, high-risk patient to continue on her journey knowing that the patient was leaking amniotic fluid and exposing herself to public bacteria for 9+ hours! If true, this doctor should have her license permanently revoked !
How can a woman, who (politically?) values the lives of ALL unborn children, be so blatantly negligible with her own unborn child? You don't have to be a psychotherapist to consider that someone in her shoes might have unconsciously wanted the pregnancy to end in a still birth. But, that would be politically incorrect to even think, let alone, say out loud about a political figure .
It makes me furious that some would spin the story to make it look as if she did this out of her sense of "duty to the people" . Gov. Palin's choice of whether or not to travel, in light of the risk she was taking, was ultimately HER choice - even if she had consulted her physician. She had to know she was risking the life of her unborn child, with high odds that the delivery could end in a fatality.
For all the care and precautions I (and the medical community) took, sadly, my daughter was stillborn. Palin (luckily) beat the odds. Some would give the Governor a medal for her bravery – forgetting her stupidity.
