Although it appears that Peggy's sister is pregnant when she visits her at the hospital, I'm wondering if that was just padding she wore to appear that way ~ so when she took the baby in to raise, people outside the family would assume he was hers (to avoid the "shame" of having an out of wedlock child in the family) (?)

Well, you can give "props" to me, too. I also said from the beginning that everyone was assuming that the baby was Peggy's.

I doubt Anita would suddenly pad herself and arrive home with an infant. Her friends, family and fellow parishoners wouldn't notice that Anita suddenly blew up to the size of a small blimp, gave birth and added a newborn to her brood? All without telling anyone she was pregnant or showing?

Don tells Peggy in the hospital to "do what you have to do and move toward the future." That child was placed for adoption.

This is exactly why the moralizing on Peggy's (or any characters') behavior that some viewers here did with her (or on any issue) really annoys me. Like when people were saying Peggy is so cold, unmaternal, how dare she reject her child, what kind of mother is she, etc. Why are we imposing our own morals and religious views on these characters? Why would we judge Peggy's actions based on what as a mother "should" do? Especially when we don't know the whole story.

I do LOVE to watch this show unfold and just let the writers decide the direction and not let the personal moral opinions of viewers affect the character development or enjoyment of a story line, PARTICULARLY with regard to whether the writers are setting a "bad example" or a character is maligned as evil or something.

The only truly despicable character I've seen from Matthew Weiner was Ralph Ciferetto (sp?) on The Sopranos, but he was just so FUN to watch be so gross.

Anita appears to be in the final stage of pregnancy. Maybe she lost her baby and substituted Peggy's for hers or maybe she tried to pass off Peggy's kid as one of a pair of twins. We'll probably find out more later. They just started to try to fill in the gaps on this. It's still unclear whether Don knows about the baby I think he does "This never happened." I was surprised to see him take such an interest in Peggy's welfare.

The brief shots from previous episodes ("previously on Mad Men...") are usually very revealing about some aspect of the new episode. This week, in addition to the ones about the birth of Peggy's baby, there was one about when Pete ratted Don's real identity out to Cooper, but there was no obvious connection between that scene in the new episode. However, I think there must be a connection in there somewhere. I believe that the scene of Don in Peggy's hospital room, when he told her that she had to do whatever it took to get out of the hospital, had something to do with his mysterious background. Maybe he did some time in the "funny farm" between Korea and Sterling Cooper.

You know the 1st thing that came to my mind was, "this better not turn out to be Don's baby"! I immediately knew that it was Don by her hospital bed and I still haven't figured out exactly why he was concerned that Peggy didn't show up to work. I'm surprised that he noticed. Why the intense interest in Peggy's whereabouts? He barely pays attention to what Betty is doing but he takes time out of his work schedule to check out why Peggy isn't at work. It seems that he went to a lot to track her down just to find out why she didn't show up for work.

And for some reason I'm not believing that Anita was pregnant. Too convenient. I don't remember in any other scene that she was expecting. Until I see more, I'm going with that baby being Peggy's. Could be Pete's since we know his little men are swimming. I'm really going to be disappointed if it is revealed that more went on with Don and Peggy than him taking her hand off of his (season 1 while in his office) and telling her his was her boss, not her boyfriend.

okay soooo i watch this with my mom and her friend and here is what she had to say:

Here's the writer's dilemma:

In 1960 infertile parents who lived in NYC went to Spence-Chapin and The Foundling Hospital to adopt white babies. Since abortion was illegal, teenaged girls "went away" to Connecticut for a few months and returned to their classrooms after the baby was born. The babies (newborns) were sent to waiting couples through the agencies above. How will Matthew explain away the fact that the Campbell adoption will be of a toddler? Here's how:

The state said that Peggy was a wacko and that the child was kept in foster custodianship to see what transpired. Maybe Peggy cannot sign away the baby because she does not believe she had a baby.

I know I may be stretching things...but why not? I think Peggy accidently (maybe not accidently?) killed her baby. I think the remark Peggy made to Bobbi about the little boy in the apartment building falling and hitting his head then died was something that seemed weird to me. It fit the scene, but something didn't feel right. Maybe the baby died of crib death? I even wonder if Don was really visiting Peggy in the hospital? She kept saying, "is that you? - are you here?". She was on a lot of drugs and maybe seeing things. Maybe she was picturing what Don WOULD say if he was there. Maybe Don is telling her to do whatever they say because he doesn't want her to go to jail if she was the one who killed her baby? With Anita being pregnant in that scene with her mother keeps haunting me. Where is that baby of Anita's? Maybe the little boy we see IS Anita's and not Peggy's!!

OMG ... some of these posts .. lol

It occurred to me that Peggy might have been hallucinating both Anita's pregnant figure and the visit from Don.

i think the baby is anitas. i think that peggys baby is in government custody until she can come to terms with the fact that she did indeed have the baby. i think she will sign the baby(toddler) over just in time for when peter and trudi realize that they need to adopt. i think that somehow don will spill the beans to peter that he is a father...
here are some of my random thoughts:
don might know that peter is the father
peter might have been the one talking to peggy in the chair by her side (she was drugged up)
rachel? (the dept store daughter) might have had dons baby and quickly married??
i cant wait until next weeks episode

An avid viewer watches and wonders....far from a fan's most common activity--looking and speculating. I prefer to watch and wonder...Season 1 taught me that.

Carefully reconsider whether you think Weiner has given us all the facts so that we feel we 'know and have see it all.' We're only five episodes into this season...and far from the end of the Mad Men saga. If you're one that just looks at what is happening and are not watching the characters, you're missing a lot. Wondering what the characters' next actions will be is enjoyable and turns sour when we speculate on their next action based on what has recently been revealed. The story is not linear, and confusion will reign for those jumping the gun and assume they have received all the facts.

Nothing is certain right now, not even the whereabouts of Peggy's baby....and those that try to lead me astray through the use of mere bravado and repetition are baying at the moon.

I will keep watching...and wondering....
Soon, the writers will have a character say the words that will clear it all up; the fun is listening so that you hear what is said with an open mind.

"As Peggy prepares to leave her sister and mother, her sister asks, "Aren't you going to say goodnight?" Peggy briefly peeks on a blond-haired blue-eyed infant from the doorway of the bedroom he's sharing with his cousins."

This is from the Flight 1 episdoe recap. More food for thought, but I don't think any conclusion can be drawn from this.

As I said in an earlier post, the brief shots from previous episodes ("previously on Mad Men...") are usually very revealing about some aspect of the new episode. This week, in addition to the ones about the birth of Peggy's baby, there was one about when Pete ratted Don's real identity out to Cooper, but there was no obvious connection between that scene in the new episode. I now think that Don must know about Pete and Peggy's baby and is going to use that information in the future to blackmail Pete in retaliation for what Pete tried to do to him.

I think the baby is the sister''s and the state took peggy's , flashback to the sunday dinner when the mother commented on how competent Peggy was, and the sister's comment was "the state didn't think so..........." it all fits, after seeing the sister about 10 months pregs in the flashback this week. we've never seen 2 small kids at the sister's
drapper definitely knows peggy had a baby and that its campbell's

would peggy and pete even have had a child with hair SO blonde?

The person who doubts Peggy's sister was pregnant because "we never saw her pregnant before" may not remember that the first time we meet Peggy's sister in 1962. 16 months after Peggy had the baby.

I will say though I am loving these hallucination theories. Not sure yet, but they are fun to consider!

I am the daughter of one of those girls who "went away" and am about a year or so younger than Peggy's baby. Peggy's sister would absolutely have played it off like she was pregnant in order to bring Peggy's baby home without people talking (much). People would suspect that she was covering for someone but would give her the benefit of the doubt because of her good reputation. People outside the system often have no idea how families reacted and to what lengths they went to conceal a pregnant, unwed daughter. It was very sad - families often totally disowned the daughters they professed to love as soon as they turned up pregnant. Even parents who stuck by their daughters insisted the baby be placed for adoption. It was a different era and most girls who got "in trouble" were given no say whatsoever in what happened to them and their babies.

Drink and Smoke... I thought the SAME thing as I was watching. I also put a post on somewhere about when Bobbi makes the comment about a "kick in the head" and Peggy winces.

I think her baby died from some sort of concussion.

I think Peggy did it.

The blonde child appears to belong to Peggy's sister Anita after viewing her stage of pregnancy at the hospital with Peggy. No wonder Peggy had trouble saying goodnight when she stood at the door. The child probably reminded her of the baby she put up for adoption.

I don't think Anita could have gotten away with "padding" without the neighborhood knowing...and Peggy's mom wouldn't have wanted the neighbors gossiping about them. She even said Peggy had TB so Don wouldn't know the truth.

It will be interesting to see if the child is in a foster care situation, or if he has been adopted. We may not know for awhile....wonderful complex storyline.

Right on, kdb100273! Wouldn't it be great if we were right!! When Don was talking to Peggy in the hospital, he kept saying, "it didn't happen - do whatever they tell you to do" She is undergoing psychological evaluation. I have heard of post-pardon (sp) depression that causes a mother to take the life of her child. I also think back at the movie "The Joy Luck Club" when one of the women in the movie drowned her own baby. He told her that he would never let her have a divorce and would hunt her down and she would never see her baby again. Maybe Peggy looked at this baby as ruining her life and did the unthinkable? Hmmmm....................

i don't think peggy had enough access to the child to harm it.

If she killed the child, she'd be in jail/mental hospital a bit longer than a couple of months!

What if...and I know this would be WAY too convenient...Peggy's baby was put up for adoption and (dare I say it) the charming Pete and his lovely missus adopt him/her? I realize that ties up everything a bit too neatly, but it looks like an interesting direction to head with the fertility issues Pete and his neurotic wife are having!

In the episode where Peggy said goodnight to the small children, I counted three. One of them said "goodnight Aunt Peggy" but I believe there were two toddlers. And weren't there two toddlers at the easter egg hunt? Of course, if both Peggy and Anita each had a baby, the Anita's baby would be the youngest of the two.
I don't think the writers are introducing a hallucination about Don's visit, or about Anita's pregnancy. They sure have gotten everyone talking again, though, haven't they?

There were two kids, say age 3 to 4, and the one in the crib, older than a year, but much less than 2 years.

For what it's worth, here's my best guess:
1.) Peggy had to be placed at St. Mary's (and drugged) so she'd loosen up and admit she had a baby. Otherwise, the baby hangs in limbo, and the State of NY wanted this solidified.
2.) Don visits Peggy, probably got the truth out of the hospital and convinced them he could get Peggy to cooperate.
3.) I think Don, for all his brusqueness, really likes Peggy and was worried about her. Seeing that she'd gotten herself into a jam, he came to her aid with good advice.
4.) Peggy admires Don and took his advice...sign the papers and get out of there....start afresh and forget the past. That's why she seems to breeze along as if nothing had happened: she's as good at forgetting as Don is. At least for now.
5.) Where is her baby? I haven't a clue! I thought Anita was raising him, but after seeing her hugeness, I just can't say.

No one knew Peggy was pregnant until after she'd had the baby, so Anita straps on enough padding to suddenly look 9 months' pregnant in one day? Don't think so

Don went looking for Peggy because she'd just been given the huge Clearasil account and then she disappeared. He needed her for something. The reference to his being outed by Pete was a way of reminding us that when it comes to denying the past, Don knows what he's talking about.

The simplest answer is usually the best, even in soapy TV shows. Peggy called her family after the baby was born, and they all swooped in and decided to take the baby until Peggy came to her senses.

TB was a popular cover story in those days, kar65. TB carried a stigma but not as bad as unwed pregnancy. The cover story for my birth was that my b-mom had a nervous breakdown and went away to a private rest home -

Peggy didn't know she was pregnant until she delivered, so Anita showing up padded like that would not have worked - there wouldn't have been time. The toe-haired little guy is Anita's. And almost any two parents can have a blonde child (my mom was a true redhead and my dad had dark brunette hair) and I was most definitely a blonde baby (and still am with help :-)

Less sure of why Don would show so much concern about Peggy going missing. I think we will find out and Greytone's point about watching the ride is half the fun is very true.

I agree with soflakate (first of all, she's from south florida, i take it!) - thanks for reminding me about Peggy being given Clearisil and then disappearing - but with a slight difference: I don't think Peggy called her family about the baby. The hospital officials found her family and contacted them because she was involuntarily committed to the psychiatric ward. She was not released until she "told them whatever they wanted to get out of there" (per Don's advice) - she admitted she had given birth and the state took away the child.

I'm enjoying kdb100273's theory about the neighborhood child's concussion and it possibly being Peggy's own child. (Everybody loves a good conspiracy theory!) Peggy sure was concerned Bobbie not fall asleep in the car as well.

Anita revealed during confession that Peggy had had an affair with a married man. How would she know absolutely - unless the married man were her own husband, Jerry?

Adoption seems to make the most sense. I'm not buying any conspiracy theories. If she killed her kid she would be behind bars. Even if it was accidental she would be institutionalized for good at least. She would have never been able to just walk away.
I still say that what Don meant when he visited her by,"Listen to me. Do what ever they tell you and get out of here. You will be amazed at how well you will forget this." was that she had to pull it together in order to show she was of right mind when she consented to put the baby up for adoption.

I was adopted in 1967. My birth mother had to prove that she knew what she was doing when she gave me up for adoption. Peggy's child was probably in state custody until she could show she was able to give consent.

I also still think it is Pete's baby. I think his wife's problems conceiving and his own verility are part of the story line b/c of the irony it creates. Here he has unknowingly already fathered a child, his wife can not conceive, and Peggy has given possibly his only natural child up for adoption. Believe it or not, stuff like this really happens.

My cousin was also put up for adoption b/c her birth mother had a one night stand with a guy who ended up in Vietnam. She never told him. While she was pregnant she actually met a nice guy that she later married, but she still decided to give her baby up for adoption b/c she didn't think it would be fair for him to raise a child that wasn't his. They assumed they would have children together after they were married. Unfortunately for her birth mom, she wasn't able to ever have children with her new husband, and spent years pining away for the child she gave up. Lucky for both my cousin and her birth mom, they were able to be reunited through through an adoption connection registry. My cousin was 31 years old at the time. They now keep in touch, but she will never be a "mom" to my cousin.
Yes, sometimes real life is just as strange as fiction.

I have a feeling Pete will end up missing his chance too. I also think that there will be a lot of pressure and turmoil between him and Trudy, his wife. Their next pressure will be the discussion of whether or not they should adopt if they can not conceive on their own.

greytone, you said:

"An avid viewer watches and wonders...."

Nicely put (and very diplomatic!) - it is music to my ears, however speculative my tendencies. I think this is one of the better posts I've ever seen, particularly in light of the whole obsession over Peggy's baby. I think that is the LEAST mysterious of the mysteries.

I prefer to watch in the dead quiet, with no distractions, and let Mr. Weiner's intentions just flow through without labels or judgment. My brain is already pretty analytical, so I try let it process for a while in the background before making conclusions (or posts). Then I watch again, and it's a whole other set of conclusions. Then I ask myself more questions.

(In this case my Tivo blew up literally seconds before the 10 pm broadcast, so I've yet to view this episode. I feel like I've missed an entire season!)

As an aside, I missed your Sheila post, and thought it should have had way more input. With the years that are coming up in the next seasons, I have no doubt that Matt Weiner will (obviously) address the subject thoroughly.

I look forward to your next post.

Dry Manhattan....
Thanks for reading my Shiela post. It was one I worked hard to compose. I knew it would be risky to present the subject matter, and most of this forum chose to avoid the discussion of the big 'r'... You know, I'm glad you think Weiner will address it head on in the future...I've gotten much more cynical in my old age.

Like you, it takes me longer to post because I like to watch the episode 2-3 times and let it marinate for a while. This series is that rich, isn't it?.....I don't know how you could stand to wait so long to view the latest episode! ...It's Wednesday! lol...I would definitely have to stay away from the forum....(smile)

I appreciate you dropping back by and making time for a few comments..... I'm not cleaning grills, but I am retired and am currently avoiding sorting through household items for an endless string of garage sales I'm hosting...(Thanx for your kind words...) Yesterday I found hundreds of dollars in cash that had been squirreled away for 'emergencies,' (I guess)!

So I press forward....you do the same....I look forward to looking for your martini glass (cute!).

Sorry to my fellow Maddicts for being w-a-a-a-y off topic...

Either Anita lost her baby and is pissed because she has to raise Peggy's, or Peggy's baby did go for adoption and Anita is rubbing her face in it by insisting Peggy say goodnight to her(Anita's) baby.

I don't think Peggy killed the child. I said that wrong.

Here is what I think:

Peggy had kid. Lost it mentally. Took Don's advice.
Tried to make it at motherhood and working. Was with the kid at the park down the street. He was playing, she was daydreaming, kid falls gets concussion and dies. (a la Joy Luck).
Only thing is he would have been a bit young for the playing and falling theory.

Probably way off in my thought and the kid will show up in Season 10 at about age 20 along the lines of Don Draper.

Just thinking about Anita's confession. She never says anything to the priest about resenting having to raise her sister's child. Seems like that would have come up.
"everyone thinks Peggy is great, while I have to raise her kid".

Here's a problem with the timing of Peggy's baby's birth. In the first season, Betty and Don's neighbor, Francine was 6 months pregnant when we met her. She had her baby in November, which made sense based on the timeline that had been hinted at. (The election, long weekend, etc.).

So, Peggy really couldn't have Pete's baby based on the timeline of her having sex with him at around the same time Francine was already 6 months later, and then turn around and have a baby a couple of weeks after Francine. That baby would have only been about 3 months gestation.

I don't see how this timeline could have been missed by the writers. What do you other fans think?

Lena I am starting to think that Pete is not Peggy's Baby Daddy..I dont think Pete was Peggy's first office fling.I think(don't laugh) it was Don.Its obvious at this point the writers have masterfully lead us down a primrose path(and we love them for it).The whole time she was getting "pleasingly plump" who knew she was preggers.I think the bond alluded to in the last episode may be the lil tyke.

*the bond between Don and Peggy..

Peggy and Pete are both light enough to have towheaded kids - many kids are towheaded till their hair darkens as they grow older -

The child who died (in Peggy's conversation with Bobbie) is the son of the woman in ep 4 with the bundt cake for Fr Gill - she's either Mrs Casey or Mrs O'Neill.

lenabella, I agree with you. I think Peggy was already pregnant before she went to work at SC. She was not a virgin when she went to the doctor for birth control, and Pete was not her first.

If Peggy's baby is just from some random boyfriend and not Pete, then the whole story loses a lot of drama, especially with Pete and Trudy having fertility issues. If that's the situation, (to steal a line from Cooper) "WHO CARES?" I think it's fascinating that Pete's wife is miserable because she can't get pregnant and Pete doesn't even really want a baby and his lovechild is out there! That irony makes the story that much more compelling.

Remember how lots of viewers trashed the writers at the end of season one for the whole baby idea? And now look how big it has gotten. Guess they were right after all.

I tend to agree with Mad Maniac and think the baby might belong to Don. Not because Don is the swinger that his is, but because this baby makes his life WAY more complicated. Not only that, I love it when a show takes you down a road based on assumptions, and then BAM - you're not in Kansas anymore!

The only person we saw Peggy getting it on with is Pete. It would be one of them "God from the machine" contrivances if it turns out to be Don's immaculate conception...and if Pete and his conveniently infertile wife end up adopting Pete's kid that's a purty cheesy trick, too. I have confidence that the writers will come up with something better.

it is obvious that the baby is Don's and he thought Peggt'd take care of it. That is, have an abortion.
But she hid it and it was common back then for an aunt or mother to assume the child as their's and to "pretend" to be pregnant with padding so as to support the story becuase the family was driven by shame at having a girl get pregnant while unmarried.
This is another piece from his past that is going to catch up with Don when all hell breaks lose in his life.
Wait til his wife finds out he has another kid...
ha ha ha

How is it obvious that the baby is Don's? he rebuffed her when she came on to him in the first episode - what evidence do we have that they went from that to sex?

Is the plot line about Pete and Trudy some sort of ruse?

I know there's a lot we don't get told, and facts are often obscured and presented obtusely, but come on - that is a real stretch that is based on nothing discernible.