What!? Yes, I had the same reaction you’re probably having right about now, so let’s get to the nut-and-bolts of the rumor.

Via Comments from Left Field:

On March 5th, 2008 Alaska’s Republican Governor, Sarah Palin, announced to the media that she was 7 months pregnant with her 5th child. She is currently 44.

Palin’s daughter Bristol is 16 and attends an Anchorage high school. Students who have attended class with her report that she has been out of school for months, claiming a prolonged case of mono.

Palin does not appear pregnant in any recent photographs. The announcement came as quite a shock to people who had worked closely with her, and have been quoted as saying that she did not appear pregnant whatsoever during the prior 7 months.

From a DailyKos.com diary, quoting an article from The Anchorage Daily News:

Palin said she’s already about seven months along, with the baby due to arrive in mid-May.

That the pregnancy is so advanced astonished all who heard the news. The governor, a runner who’s always been trim, simply doesn’t look pregnant.

Even close members of her staff said they only learned this week their boss was expecting.

“I thought it was becoming obvious,” Palin said. “You know, clothes getting snugger and snugger.”

But people just couldn’t believe the news.

“Really? No!” said Bethel state Rep. Mary Nelson, who is close to giving birth herself.

“It’s wonderful. She’s very well-disguised,” said Senate President Lyda Green, a mother of three who has sometimes sparred with Palin politically. “When I was five months pregnant, there was absolutely no question that I was with child.”

That DailyKos diarist has some videos and pictures, too, in his diary.

Granted, this is all just a rumor; however, the 236.com website asks the question that many are asking:

Would a 44-year-old woman with four kids out of diapers, embarking on her first governorship, really get pregnant? Or would a 17-year-old, living in a small Alaska town with conservative parents who didn’t tell her about condoms, starting fooling around and accidentally get knocked up?

It was at this point in the then rumored Edwards’ affair that I thought, Oh, that can’t be true. Well, now we know… may be the National Enquirer will shock us again.

UPDATE (9/2): The DailyKos.com diary has been deleted from the website, but you can still find the story via Google cache.