iReport: Sarah Palin's child may be her daughter's?

These suspicions have been circulating for quite some time in Alaskan media outlets and now it has increased nationwide after her vice president nomination. When I read this story at iReport and Daily Kos, I couldn’t believe it and it looked more like a National Enquirer story initially. But they have provided a number of pictures and videos, along with various article links, which makes one to believe it or even explore it further. Sarah Palin has been a staunch opponent against abortion and birth control and promoting any “abstinence only” policies. This story has not been covered by any major media outlets except for Palin’s native newspaper, Anchorage Daily News. The story goes like this: 1.) Bristol Palin left school on an extended leave during the last 4 to 5 months of Trig’s pregnancy. The parents gave mononucleosis as the reason for the absence. But some classmates claimed they had seen Bristol Palin pregnant. There are also some photos in Daily Kos article, which clearly looks like Bristol is pregnant, while her mother looks normal. 2.) Sarah Palin didn’t announce her pregnancy to anyone until she was eight months pregnant. Her colleagues and friends were totally surprised because she showed no obvious signs of pregnancy. Alaskan news media reported this briefly but didn’t elaborate or investigate further. The government pictures of Sarah Palin doesn’t show any signs of pregnancy either. 3.) Sarah Palin in the video taken when she was five months pregnant said "I like running the hills, it kills me, that's why I like it, I mean it thrashes your guts..." Daily Kos responded with: “Not exactly terminology said by a pregnant mother”. 4.) Sarah Palin attended the National Governor’s Association at the White House, and the photos again show a trim Palin and she was six months pregnant at that time. Here is the high resolution picture of the group with Palin in the front row. 5.) A picture of Governor Palin at home with her family that was printed in the Anchorage Daily News, taken just six weeks before Trig's birth on March 9th. You can see the clear bump on Bristol but Sarah looks trim as usual. 6.) On Friday, April 18th, 2008, Sarah Palin, who was nearly ninth months pregnant, attended the Republican Governor’s Convention in Dallas, Texas along with her husband Todd Palin. Sarah Palin was the keynote speaker address on energy policy. Supposedly, early Friday morning at 4:00 am Sarah began leaking amniotic fluid. But she didn’t go to the hospital, instead called her doctor and delivered the keynote speech as arranged. Wall Street Journal reported this episode: 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. But pregnant women are not supposed to fly in an airplane when they are 7 or more months during the term. She didn’t notify the Alaskan Airline authorities and the crew about her pregnancy. Supposedly, she was in labor during the 8 hour flight, neither the flight crew nor the attendants knew about it or saw any signs from her. Caroline Boren, Alaskan Airlines representative told Newsminer:

“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,”

It is an extremely risky behavior, but Palin continued the flight and traveled more than eight hours from Dallas to Alaska. 7.) Three days after pregnancy, Palin is back to work as usual. Both the articles have more points and links for further reference. If this story is true then Sarah Palin would have tried to hide her unmarried daughter’s pregnancy and claim it as her own, since she favors neither abortions nor birth control. The McCain campaign should have investigated this story before they chose her as VP, now it is too late. Did somebody in their campaign miss it by rushing the decision? Will the McCain camp or the media verify this story? But I hope this story is not true.