Palin interview

This is too wierd for words..

http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/who/news/04092008/sarah-palin-talks-about-her-family-struggles.html

1. She doesn't tell her husband for 3 days about the DS?
2. She doesn't tell her kids about the pregnancy even though she's pro-life
3. She doesn't tel the kids about the DS until he's born despite knowing from 13 weeks?

I wouldn't call WHO reliable reporting but if she's being quoted what a load of balony. Wouldn't trust that woman as far as I could throw her. Actually that's pushing it, I wouldn't even trust her that far. Shame.

At the risk of being shot down, I would say that she is quite normal with her actions. Firstly, she's abnormal for keeping her baby with DS, but to wait until her husband was with her to share the new I would say is quite normal. I know HEAPS of people that like to share BIG news face to face rather than by phone. As for not telling the kids about DS, well, I guess that's a choice she made. Some people would, some people wouldn't. Again, I would say it's pretty normal. As for hiding it from her kids. It doesn't say in that article how long for. She obviously had to come to terms with it herself first before sharing with her children. It would've made it a lot easier for her kids to accept *I think* if she had come to the point of accepting it herself first.

As for her policies, I have no idea what they are.

Cas

Willow apparently commented at birth that he looked like he had DS and that's when she told them (according to the link).

But Cas, would you wait 3 days to tell your hubby about the DS, could you hold on to it for that long?

Not saying that you couldn't, jeez maybe I would too (though I doubt it), and I'll take back that it's too wierd for words as you quite rightly point out it could be normal behaviour. I was surprised by it but that doesn't mean I was right.

I know a little about her policies and don't like what she stands for in any way, but was looking at this as something quite seperate - ie in relation to the DS diagnosis only. It's possible my biase could have slipped in. Would be interesting to see what others think.

PS she is pro-life/staunchly anti abortion which adds to my confusion about why she would be holding on to the news.

Well, I don't know about 3 days. But I DID wait to tell hubby face to face My daughter was born at 3:44am and I had worked out by that night that she had DS. The paed came at lunchtime the next day but didn't tell me, he just said he wanted to talk to me and hubby about our daughter's uniqueness. It was only when my husband arrived that I said he wanted to talk to us about her having DS, I suspected.

Yeah, the whole situ does seem a little strange, but when it comes to famous ppl, I don't really believe too much because I know what little they work with to produce a story

Cas

Cant comment on whether i think she was weird waiting 3 days before telling her husband, as i suppose everyone is different and well im not sure whats normal anymore
But definately weird in that she didnt tell her kids till after he was born, and then it took one of her kids to mentioned he looked like he had Ds before she said anything. I think its weird because all her kids are at an age where they would of understood about the Ds, and given them time to get used to it too. But then again this is a woman who is dead set against sex education being taught in schools and preaches abstinence and well that policy came back and bit her in the butt.

On not telling the kids.
Maybe she wanted the children to get to know their brother as just a baby first, let that bonding happen. Yeah sure she could have prepared them but then again to her having Down syndrome might just feel like a normal thing that happens to baby’s. Maybe she had advice from either parents or therapists? Who knows maybe she would do it differently if it happened again.
On not telling her husband, wow I think that takes some strength and shows her strength as a woman. I would have blurted it out cried… and looked to DH for strength. To em she got her own head around it and broke the news to her husband in a controlled way. Maybe she received some advice on how to tell her husband she might have stayed up all night looking for information on Ds..
By the way I’m not reading up on any of the politic stuff, I’m skimming posts so I dotn read to much about what she stands for. Ignorant I know, but right now I cant deal with her crap as well as my own.

Aden's mummy wrote:

I cant deal with her crap as well as my own.

hehehe good one Cathy! You know, what it all comes down to is this: She is one of US. A mother of a child with DS... so our crap is her crap iykwim!! (paraphrased my wise old friend )

Cas

Ohhhh Cas, does that mean you will deal with all my crap Please please please

Sure Tan, I don't mind at all! Wish I could deal with some of it for you

Cas

I didnt tell anyone about Paige having DS all thru my pregnancy. I mentioned it to DH but I dont think he fully understood. I guess we all deal with things differently and she is no different I guess. Who knows?

Just because she is a powerful, working Mother, does not make her immune to the shock and fear that comes with a diagnosis that says "your baby has DS".
We all deal with that shock and fear in our own personal way. Most of us sat in a Dr's surgery or a hospital bed together when the news was broken. She had to deal with that on her own and it was left up to her to tell Hubby... not an easy thing to do.

As for telling the other children... I didnt tell my kids at first. I didnt know how... or what to say...
After a week of crying and obviously acting weird, Em (8) asked me if I was crying because the baby had died? She had picked up on more than I gave her credit for, so I sat her and her sister (6) down and we all had a big talk about our baby and DS...

I dont see anything as weird, just a personal coping mechanism for dealing with something a little more lifechanging than having a new baby.

Quote :

You know, what it all comes down to is this: She is one of US. A mother of a child with DS...

Fair enough. I must have let my own bias get in the way. Naughty Di

I think we all react differently but Di i still think the not telling the kids was weird, especialy at their age, like Tammy said we often dont give our kids enough credit for what they pickup on. So i must be biased too

I think I am of the opinion that is isn't that weird not to tell your kids. As for the husband, I was told when I was alone that Andy had DS. There is no way in the world I could of told Paul that news over the phone! I don't want to read any of the political crap either Adens Mummy Call it sticking your head in the sand, but I really don't care what is going on in the USA! So yeah, my posts on this topic are purely related to the DS part.

So why did she not tell her hubby for 3 days?

Oh, and we didn't tell our other two kids either. Cleo was 4 and Lachie was almost 3 when Andy was born. I told them when Cleo was about 6, after she bought up the topic of a boy at their school having DS. And even then they both just went, oh okay, and back to playing! Basically I wanted them just to enjoy and know Andy as their brother, not a brother who was "special" or whatever. I guess it is part of the person first, just happens to have DS philosopy

Hi, 43 years ago I was very weird!!! My DH, my 12 and 15 years old kids and myself learned that our 5-month-old baby, Chezzy, had Down syndrome. Yes, we never seeing people with DS before and they didn't tell us when he was born or on our many trips to the health expert people. The same day we learned that he had an inoperable ASVD.

The weird part is that we migrate from Italy 16 years before and we didn't write to tell all our parents, relatives etc. that Chezzy had DS, only about the ASVD. We were hoping that they pick it up on all those photos we kept sending them and we expected to receive many letters (we had many relatives there) with “By the way, does Chezzy have DS?” but no, they all thought he was just so gorgeous. One day my sister decided to come for a visit, Chezzy was already 2 years old, and ………………I guess I was very weird, even more then Sarah Palin. I don't know her so I don't have an opinion I only think that if she feels half the way I felt 43 years ago I could understand her behavior.

By the way Chezzy is a nice man.

Cheers

Marialena, Chezzy's mum

Oh God I love hearing about Chezzy

Marialena, always great to see a post from you xx

I also find it difficult to believe that she didn't tell at least her two oldest children, with them being 19 and 17.

Yes, we didn't tell Stephanie when we got Hannah's diagnosis, but she was 4 but I would have hoped that if she had been 19 or 17 years old, I could have sat with her and discussed our feelings as adults. Even if this had not been done straight away, to get my feelings under control, but certainly before the babys birth.