Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Alaska governor: New son has Down syndrome

|
|
 
  
Published: April 22, 2008 at 4:17 PM

WASILLA, Alaska, April 22 (UPI) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said that her fifth child, born last week, has been diagnosed with Down syndrome.

Palin returned to work Monday, three days after giving birth, the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News reported. She and her husband, Todd, showed Trig Paxson Van Palin to a few reporters and posed for photographs with the new arrival.

Down syndrome, a genetic abnormality, causes retardation that can be mild or severe. Children of older mothers, like the 44-year-old Palin, are more at risk.

Palin said that when she and her husband learned that the fetus she was carrying had Down syndrome "it was kind of confusing." But she said that Trig's older siblings and other relatives say he is perfect.

Palin was in Texas last week for a National Governor's Association energy conference when she showed some signs of labor, about a month before her due date. She gave a scheduled speech and returned to Alaska on Thursday, giving birth Friday morning.

Palin and her husband's other children are Track, 18 years old; Bristol, 17; Willow, 13; and Piper, 7.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 21
President Obama Signs Smuggling Prevention Act at White House
View Caption
fark
All fifth graders who want to go see "Red Tails" please step forward. Whoa not so fast there girls...
If we timewarped back by 2000 years, what job would you be most qualified to do? No, you can't bring...
BAD: getting caught in a landslide while hiking. WORSE: getting struck by lightning while trying...
Weepy eyes, hot chix, Jersey Shore Ronnie and a guy with mini fishing reels stuck in his beard....
French roadbuilders find 21 German WWI soldiers...and 1 goat
Photoshop this crazy old coot in the cold