I read over the weekend that January Jones is consuming her placenta in a dried pill form. Reread that please.
I had a birth plan. It contained the following.
1. Drugs if I ask for them
2. My father is cutting the cord
3. I want the baby on me right away
I added a fourth point soon after. It was during my prenatal class. The birth movie played – I loved it. I should be a doula because birthing fascinates me. I was starting at the screen, sharing the bliss of the new mom. Then the nurse walked over with a pan. And she showed the mother this…umm…piece of liver? Marinating cut of steak? No? What the hell was that? Ooooh…it was her placenta? GAG. Check please.
My hand shot into the air. ‘Excuse me. Do you HAVE to look at the placenta after??’ I was assured that no, I didn’t. Right then – that became point four in my tiny birth plan – DO NOT SHOW ME THE PLACENTA. Don’t ask me to explain the aversion. I’m not sure I can. I can tell you that my placenta had an aversion to me too – the feeling was mutual. It decided to stay really tiny and was the reason Will stopped growing and came early.
Knowing I was never going to have another baby, I didn’t bother to find out why that thing stayed so small. I said good riddance, they took it away to do some tests on it. (These results are probably in a drawer with the MRI results from my knees that seem to have disappeared into the nether regions).
Tell me. What was your relationship with your placenta like? Did you eat it with some fava beans and a nice Chianti? Is it growing under a tree in your backyard?
*I do want to add – the Lecter picture is tongue in cheek. I absolutely support ANYTHING that you did or choose to do with your placenta. I recognize that I’m a bit of a nutter on somethings. I don’t like gum for godsakes!*
Thank you for posting that link Celeste. I had never heard of it before January Jones, but now that I’m thinking about it, I bet it’s practiced in many cultures around the world. For myself, I could maybe do it in encapsulated form. Placenta lasagna? Fried with onions? (I know no one said that) I’d have a harder time with that. I wonder how many people do/have done it but just don’t tell because of the likely reaction. People get their knickers in a twist over breast feeding toddlers – can you imagine telling them you ate your own placenta??
One day my hubby (yes hubby) was out talking to the neighbour who just had her baby. He asked her how she was doing. Her response:
“Much better after I made a lasagna with my placenta!”
Oh yes she did….and fed it to her 2 boys and husband.
**shudders**
He hasn’t spoken to her since.
I’ll be the crazy one. I encapsulated my own placenta after having a homebirth in January. Even crazier, I took some raw (frozen in a smoothie) starting the day he was born. (I did the encapsulation a few days later when I felt up to it). My milk was in at 48 hours and I have had tons of energy since and no baby blues. After a few weeks I got lazy about taking the pills and my husband could totally tell, based on my mood and energy level. Besides homebirthing I think this is one of the best pregnancy/birth choices I’ve ever made. I’m very happy that it’s becoming a bit more mainstream, because I think many, many women could benefit from it.
The only one I wanted to see was Eva’s. Only because I never really thought of it with the boys. Cam’s delivery was too fast – everything was a whirlwind.
Cuyler we didn’t know if he would be ok so I was distracted by that.
Eva’s birth was lovely. I knew it would be the last placenta I ever produced and in my opinion a placenta the most comprehensive life support system to exist. I wanted to see it. It fascinated me.
As far as the encapsulated placenta – had I known about it, I actually may have tried it. After the PPD with Cuyler, I would have been willing to try any natural remedy to avoid it.
Honestly Celeste – If I was to have another baby, if there was a chance it would help ward off the postpartum – I would eat the thing raw right after delivery if I had too. Seriously. I’m fascinated by all this discussion.
Not only do I believe this was the reason for not having baby blues with my second born, but also the reason why my milk supply was 100 times better. Check it out, it’s amazing. Open your minds! http://www.placentabenefits.info/
I think of all the methods I’ve heard of – the encapsulating sounds manageable. but okay – your husband did it??? How do you do something like that??
I didn’t look at it. My husband encapsulated it for me. It was easier to consume without knowing what it looked like. Unlike many, however, I didn’t end up feeling that I experienced any of the benefits like increased milk production, decrease in baby blues, decreased post-partum bleeding, etc. I figured it was worth trying as long as I couldn’t taste what I was consuming, which I didn’t.
Certainly not my thing. But my sister did the same and swears it’s the reason she didn’t experience any baby blues.
Uhmm nooooo thank you… would i chop off my big toe and eat that? no, you couldn’t pay me enough. no, i don’t want to see my placenta, i don’t want to hear about it, and i certainly don’t want to cook it up and make a stew… what strange things people do…
is it considered cannibalism if it came from your own body?
I honestly may have just peed my pants a little bit. I’m DYING!
mine’s in the freezer…shhhhh…don’t tell anyone! i had the whole “plant a tree” plan, too but now it’s at the bottom of the freezer under the steak. no i have no idea what to do with the freaking thing! it’s almost 7 years old!!!!
Um, no. *shudders*
I don’t think you really want to know this, but, traditional Chinese and other asian cultures they often keep the placenta for it’s rich nutrients to make a soup that is consumed by the birth mother. NO I didn’t do this (makes me queasy just thinking about it). But I’m gathering that this is the theory behind this pill. Having said that, I suspect that having it in pill form has already removed most of the nutritional properties…still a big ew!
I had the exact same experience as Christina above. And I had a drug free birth. I thought I was going to die when they had to go in and get the placenta. After all that, the last thing I wanted was to see the damn thing. Dave was totally into it, checking it out. I have heard of people turning the placenta into pill form and consuming it. Not sure of the benefits, but there would be no way you could convince me it would be beneficial. Ick.
I’m a little grossed out by the concept of eating a piece of flesh from your own body, and I think that resemblance to liver you noted doesn’t help, there.
I like the *idea* of a tree, actually, but when it comes down to it? First off, we were moving soon when I brought my first home, and don’t really have a place to put a tree now, either.
But more to the point, I can’t quite put my head around carrying around an organ that came out of me and putting it where – in the freezer? – until we get to that.
I was more than happy to just be done with the business of having the baby, and just get on with dealing with everything else – the washing and changing and endless wakings and trying to figure out breastfeeding and oh my hell, who had time to worry about the placenta in all of that even if I wanted to?
My placenta had to be taken out with my first and if I knew that someone was going to reach and pull it out I would have asked for them to hit me over the head with a hammer and sedate me! that hurt more than the whole child birth process! then I got to see it laying in a clear bag on the floor looking like feed for a pack of wild dogs! GAG!!