When to Tell?

I didn't know any of this til Levitt blogged about it.

I guess knowing you have a Down syndrome baby well in advance could be useful for planning. What’s strange, if Palin’s reason for doing the test was early planning, is that she kept not only the Down syndrome news a secret from her own children, but even the pregnancy itself. “Not knowing in my own heart if I was going to be ready to embrace a child with special needs … I couldn’t talk about it,” she said.

She hid the Down syndrome news even after the children were told of the pregnancy. When the baby was born, 14-year-old Willow commented, “He looks like he has Down syndrome.”

Palin’s response: “If he does, you know you will still love him, Willow. It’ll be okay.”

I think that is really weird. You hide the pregnancy and the condition of the baby from your own family? I wonder what was going on here.