No midwife, no doctor, and no special arrangements – other than a note from her doctor asserting that the 34-year-old basketball coach in her ninth month of pregnancy is fit to fly.

So begins University of Maine women’s coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie’s 6,800-mile, excellent (she hopes) adventure from Orono to Santa Barbara, Calif., and back.

Palombo and the Black Bears will leave the Orono campus by bus today at 8:45 a.m. to catch a 12:21 p.m. flight on US Airways out of Portland. From there, the team will fly to Philadelphia and board a non-stop flight from Philly to Los Angeles. The last leg of the journey is a 45-minute bus drive along the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara.

“Unfortunately, there won’t be any person I know that will be able to deliver a baby with me,” Palombo said with a nervous chuckle. “Our trainer, lucky Sherrie Weeks, will be there though, and I’ll bet she’s real excited about that responsibility, poor thing.”

Palombo hoped to have a friend who is also a midwife accompany her as the Black Bears make their way to an NCAA Women’s Tournament first-round game against North Carolina in Santa Barbara Saturday night.

Unfortunately, neither her friend nor anyone else Palombo checked with could free up the time to travel with the team.

“I do have a doctor out there who’s hooked up to my doctor here,” Palombo said. “She’s the OB [obstetrician] for the trainer out there [UC-Santa Barbara], who also had a baby.”

But what happens if Palombo goes into labor on the airplane?

“Apparently if I get in any kind of duress during the flight, the first thing they do is look for medical personnel on the plane to assist,” she explained. “Then if it gets bad or worse, they will land the plane.”

UNC women’s coach Sylvia Hatchell simply hopes Palombo has an uneventful smooth trip.

“I understand what she’s going through. I can’t imagine her getting on an airplane… because I’m telling you now, I experienced it myself,” said Hatchell.

Palombo said the fact this is her second pregnancy has helped her not to worry about the unknown.

“I think having this be my first time would be a lot harder,” she said. “Of course, part of the second time is you’re lamenting a lot because you know what you’re going to go through. It’s kind of like knowing you’ll be going through torture in another week or two.”

Palombo’s due date is April 7, but she and her doctor are concerned the baby will come early since 5-year-old daughter Madeline was born three weeks early.

“I’m just hopeful we can go do our thing this weekend, hopefully have great success, come home and then the baby will come,” Palombo said.

Rather than resent all the attention her pregnancy has attracted, Palombo has welcomed it and tried to use it to her advantage.

“I think it’s great. It’s a very natural event and people need to become more comfortable with women who are pregnant and understand it more,” she explained. “And I think it’s good to show you can merge your personal and private life because I feel there are too many women coaches who feel they can’t have a family.”

Palombo has even set aside time for players to come and talk to her about her pregnancy if they have any questions.

“We’ve had talks about pregnancy and giving birth, and some of them think it’s fascinating and some of them think it’s gross,” she said with a laugh. “I joke with Tracy Guerrette all the time because she’s pre-med. I’ll say `You know Tracy, if I go into labor at some odd place, I’m going to count on you to help me out.’ ”

If the time comes, it will likely be the greatest assist the sophomore guard ever makes.