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[11C11]

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Edited by 11C11 - 8/29/11 at 8:32am

[bignerpie]

I did it for my sister. It wasn't that difficult, but it was time-consuming. The Traditional Chinese Medicine way is to steam it with lemon, ginger, and hot peppers, then slice it and dehydrate. I used a dehydrator, but you could also use your oven. Once it's crispy, use a coffee grinder or food processor to grind it into powder. My sister bought a pill encapsulator and it made it a lot easier to fill the capsules. Her placenta was fairly small and made about 125 pills.

My doula charges $175 to do it. I bought some flexible cutting boards for about $10, spent about $5 on the lemon, ginger, and jalapeno, $15 for the pill machine, and about $10 for the bag of capsules. So, altogether we spent about $40. When I have my baby, the only cost will be for the lemon, etc. because we still have a bunch of capsules.

Handling the placenta wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But then again, I grew up on a farm where we slaughtered beef, pigs, and chickens, and my husband is a hunter, and we process the deer ourselves. So blood doesn't really bother me!

[cat13]

I definitely want mine encapsulated, but since it's my first baby, I have no idea of what to expect in those first few days... I doubt I'll want to be working in the kitchen!  Here's a link to my DDC where some of the ladies had some good links and ideas.

[cinderella08]

I offer encapsulation and charge $225 for it which is on  the low end for my area.

[reillys_mom]

DH did all the work for me. In retrospect we should have gotten the encapulator since using a funnel took more time. The hardest part was the strong smell in the house postpartum since I was still sensitive to smells. It really isn't hard, but be honest with yourself about if you'll have help and want to spend the time.