Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Why I keep blogging about this

So, my newest bet is that in actuality, Sarah Palin is trying to be the new Michelle Duggar.

Frankly, I think that she has confused the Vice-Presidency of the United States with the Jerry Springer Show, or maybe she thinks it's some sort of new reality series?

So now that we know that Bristol is the one who is pregnant right now, I'm left with a couple of conclusions to choose from.

Either:
1) Irish Twins: Bristol is the mother of both, and got pregnant very very quickly after having Trig. So what about the 5 months pregnant? We all know that the 2ww means that she is really 4.5 months along, and the way teenagers ovulate she could have conceived no problem right away. A week leeway here and there---and who knows what the truth is. Maybe the family started the fake pregnancy because Bristol and her boyfriend have no health insurance and so the baby would have no health insurance if she was the mom. And the last thing on earth anyone wants is for a kid with Down's Syndrome to have no health insurance in the United States.

So the possibility exists that a current Governor of the US and possibly the next Vice President of the United States has committed insurance fraud and faked a birth certificate.

Or:
2) Bristol is pregnant now, but is not the mother of Trig, meaning that abstinence education really is a terrible idea. And her mother is an ass for accepting the Veep nomination under these circumstances and exposing her to this hell. If Sarah is the mother of Trig, then I go back to my original post on this subject, and she took extremely dangerous risks with her baby when she travelled 22 hours back to Alaska while in preterm labour with broken water.

And that leads to the conclusion that either Sarah Palins is an utterly incompetent mother who didn't take care of her pregnancy, or that even after four pregnancies she is too stupid to know that broken water and preterm labour mean that she should immediately go to a hospital. If her Doctor told her it was okay to fly, then he/she should be sued for malpractice, since so far, I can't find one perinatologist who thinks that is anything but insane. (And fwiw, I asked my own Doc, who laughed and wondered aloud if Palin was trying to take the roundabout way out and end the baby's life without getting an official abortion, because really, what she did---is that medically ludicrous.)

So the US is left with a VP candidate who is either a crook or an idiot. Lovely.

Obama's response was not only to be expected, but in my opinion, totally appropriate. Not because his mom was 18 when she had him, but because he has daughters himself, and they may be small now, but they are about to grow up and be teens in the middle of his White House term. You just know that since TV reporters began noticing the kids of Presidents the single biggest nightmare of every political strategist is a First Daughter getting into trouble, whether that means drugs, or pregnancy, or bad boyfriends, or God only knows what.

Patti Davis gave Reagan's advisors ulcers, and Chelsea scared the crap out of everyone, not to mention the Bush twins. So yeah, Obama is right to worry. The Secret Service has their jobs cut out for them.

So why do I keep going on about Palin?

Because this woman and her pro-life buddies think that women like Cecily and I should be dead, and have told me so, in comments and by email. I respect Sarah Palin's choice to not have an abortion, but she sure doesn't respect my choice to have one.

She thinks live women should just have died. So fuck her, the gloves are off.

Tomorrow is the ten year anniversary of Matthew's death, and this week is very difficult for me. Next week on the 7th, it is the fourth anniversary of Georgia's death. I admit it, I'm sensitive. I just can't help but contrast the care I took with my pregnancy with him, even when we didn't know if we were going to terminate, with her casual disregard for her baby's welfare. I was told to never be further away than 15 minutes from a hospital that could handle a high-risk pregnancy and had a level 3 NICU. And I did that, even when it meant cancelling work obligations and being unable to take care of my older son.

We in the infertililty/baby loss community have sacrificed so so much to have our families and she, a woman who condemns me and trumpets her pro-life beliefs, can't do the same? And I'm supposed to hold my tongue and not jump on the scandal?

No way.

14 comments:

  1. I don't tblame you and proudly back you up on this!

    I don't think you're ranting, I think you're the voice of reason.

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  2. The fact that her daughter is pregnant doesn't bother me -- it's not that big a deal these days. What does bother me is all the hypocrisy. Blog away!!

    And (((hugs))) in advance for tomorrow. Wow, our dates were so close together! I hope you're being really good to yourself.

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  3. It's all stirring up a lot of heartache for me too. I feel very heavy-hearted again, and missing my little Will. And I'm sad for all the other moms who made a heartbreaking choice and get to hear it debated on Fox News for the next two months (or God-forbid 4 or 8 or 12 or 16 years) because it already sucked beyond what most people can come close to understanding.

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  4. I vote Irish twins!

    http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/index.php?/archives/74-Tuesday,-Septemeber-2,-2008.html

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  5. It's this kind of crap from the same people who claim to represent good family values (the same values that say that gay people and single people are not fit parents). So I think it *does* matter that the potential VP of the free world will have a pregnant teenage daughter, a husband with a prior record, and a son who won't speak to her. The stupid decisions in relation to the birth of her son are just the cherries on the cake.

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  6. Delurking to say I totally agree. Most people seem to think I'm a conspiracy theorist, but I'd rather believe she didn't have the baby than that she would put the baby in such grave danger. I wouldn't vote for her either way, but for Trig's sake, he's better off not having her as his mom if that's the way she treats him.

    But my vote is that Bristol is not currently pregnant (though if she is, every quote I read said she's "about" five months pregnant, so give or take at least a few weeks) and the October surprise is going to be her "losing" her "baby" to gain sympathy votes.

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  7. Hey I already cast my vote for the trying to let the kid die scenario so you know how I think.
    Strange how you were told to be within fifteen minutes of a hospital and I never was. Just goes to show she may actually have an OB who told her to just get on the plane because you would only get sued for malpractice if the baby died and you didn't want it to.
    that one's just to sick to be true though right?

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  8. I can't even get started on how angry she makes me.

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  9. i definitely think that it's irish twins!

    for the first time i'm really interested in the goings-on of the republican party. it's just kinda scary that it took yet another hypocrite politician to do so.

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  10. Yeah, count me in the "they want me dead" group. Because my T18 angel baby's pregnancy included a complete previa. Chromosomally damaged placenta plus complete previa = some serious risks that people like Palin don't count as valid at all. Makes me FUME on so many levels.

    I'll be watching Palin's speech tonight (with gritted teeth, no doubt).

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  11. Ok, here are my beefs:

    1) that she threw her daughter to the wolves to quell rumors about her own pregnancy. She says as much in the statement. DO NOT use your daughter in this fashion to solve your problems. If you don't like the rumors circling about you, you can: fight back, let them roll and ignore them, sue for libel. DO NOT throw your child in front of the bus. This could've been done a thousand different ways. This sucks.

    2) she uses the word "decide" when referring to her pregnancy and her daughter's pregnancy. "I decided" to deliver my son; "she decided" to keep the baby. Honey? That's called choice.

    3) Own the fuck up to other women, ESPECIALLY working women, who have children with special needs, or whose teenage daughters find themselves in this situation. DO NOT cut funding to teen moms (like she did, in a line item veto nonetheless), DO NOT pretend that every family with 5 children has BP money behind it to help them out. Women deserve the right to CHOSE to have 5 children, even with special needs, AND work. Make it happen.

    That is all.

    (oh, and before the laugh track cues up again, $12m in the bank since her selection last Friday. If McC has a $100m month or close? She's worth every penny. Do not be fooled. She's a dangerous choice in a lot of respects and the Dems better play this wisely.)

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  12. I'm not in the US but her stance on these things does bother me for obvious personal reasons.

    If I had continued with my anencephalic pregnancy I would have obviously had to go through an entire pregnancy explaining to strangers that my baby was going to die. I would have probably gone post term since babies with anencephaly do not secrete cortisol normally from their adrenal glands and placental estrogen is low, been at risk for shoulder dystocia in labour because of post dates and foetal size (and I know a woman who had her anencephalic babies clavicles broken in labour to get the child out), been at risk for obstetric tears/trauma related to the above, have had to deliver a poor child missing the top of her head on top of it all and then if she hadn't died in labour, well I would have had to wait for infection of her exposed central nervous system and starvation to do the job.

    How could I do that to my child let alone myself?

    I never thought I would take the action I did (termination), but to me it was the kindest choice for my baby and myself. And, if I read comments about this lady correctly, anybody who is of the go to term no matter what tendancy skeeves me out a bit.

    J

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  13. I don't even know what i have to say about all this anymore....but it's the first time in a long time i have been paying any attention to the goings-on of the GOP....

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  14. In my years in the pg complication world, I've seen far too many outsiders who simply don't believe pregnancy kills some women too soon to save the baby. Somehow, a coma at 15 weeks from Hyperemesis or PreE at 19 weeks "never" happens and is said to be ProChoice construct (I was told this). This is when they need educating. And I did, sharing about the friend's dw who died the week before my sub was born, somehow he was born. Pregnancy is no easy ride for too many of us.

    For women who actually have a choice (and dying with the baby isn't a choice, imo), I discourage abortion and encourage parenting. But getting to term with both a living Mom and child isn't always a opton...it's obviously the one we'd all sign up for if we could.

    I'm sorry for your losses. I'm sorry people are crappy. I wish both sides of this debate would hear what you and others have to say. Termination sucks, but sometimes it does save a life. Of course, that is probably too complicated for most of the idiots you speak of to understand, eh?

    Hugs,
    Suzanne

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