Your Amazing Placenta: What did you do with it, and what is the result? « Back to Group Discussions

[Azadehhast]

Or, alternately, what are your plans?


I'm planning to take mine in smoothie form, and I'm interested to see if it helps with the hormone changes. I'm hoping it'll make me feel more steady and even sooner, but if it doesn't do much, I'm still satisfied. Just seeing the shock on MIL's face when she asked me what I'm doing with it and I said, "I'm eating it!" is good enough!

[Caitlin0919]

A friend of ours encapsulated mine and she's also making a tincture for me. I take one capsule every day and I think it really has helped. I don't feel overly emotional or run down and I have the motivation to keep our apartment relatively clean while still taking care of a newborn and tandem nursing a newborn and a 3-year-old. I still take long naps during the day, but I still feel like I get stuff done during the day instead of just sitting around. I've also noticed that the flow of lochia has decreased a ton since I started taking the capsules and that's been nice. Also, I think they help prevent postpartum hair loss since I haven't noticed the intense hair loss that I had after DD was born. The tincture can be used as a stronger, quicker pick-me-up as well as a good treatment for illness for me and baby. The tincture won't be ready for another 4 weeks but I'm excited to try it. The only times I get a little crabby are when I need to eat something(tandem nursing = CONSTANTLY hungry).

We didn't tell our parents about getting the placenta encapsulated until after Oscar was born(MIL found out while i was in labor) because we knew they'd all be pretty weirded out. Now that he's here and I have the pills, no one is really saying anything about it.

[BennyPai]

I'd like to have mine encapsulated, but I don't see it happening.  Last time around, we borrowed a dehydrator and I bought capsules, but we didn't follow through.  :(  My after-pains were the worst I'd experienced, and I spent a lot of time resting and vomiting from the cramping.  We decided we'd waited too long and just froze the placenta with the previous one.

We do have some nice placenta prints from our second birth.  Like the ones here:  Placenta Prints & Keepsakes

[LilMomma83]

I had a friend encapsulate mine also. She suggested 3 pills 2 X day for 1-2 weeks and then 3 pills 1 X day for 1 week, and then as needed; but, she also said to go by feel so long as I gently wean off. I was started taking mine Monday morning, and Monday I was still pretty moody so yesterday I took 4 pills 2 X day and felt better and I've done the same today and feel better (mood wise - physically is for another thread lol)...I'm really happy I got mine encapsulated - I suppose it will be kind of hard to tell for sure if it is helping, but, at this way I know I am doing what I can! :-)

[MamaTangerine]

DH encapsulated DD1's placenta, but I'm just going to plant this little one's placenta in the garden.  I took the pills for a good while after DD1, but I couldn't stand the taste, even encapsulated.  There must have been just enough of the fine powder on the outsides of the capsules or something.  They made me gag.  It's impossible to say whether they had any effect.  I was super sensitive and weepy during the weeks I took them, and I was super sensitive and weepy after I stopped!  I feel perfectly content and positive this time around (so far, knock on wood!), and I haven't taken any.  (DD1's are still in my freezer, so I did think about it.)  

We are definitely going to dehydrate the umbilical cord, though.  We made a flower out of it for DD1.  I think we'll do a crescent moon shape or something moon-like for this one. 

[Azadehhast]

I finally got to wash and care for my placenta today, and mixed up my first smoothie. Yummy!

Here's a photo of Winter with his placenta, before I cut it up:

[Mummoth]

My midwife encapsulated mine for me. I'm taking 3 in the morning and 3 at night and feel pretty good, especially considering Stephanie cluster feeds between midnight and 4 or 5 AM each night. I had severe PPD after DS was born and was totally fine after DD was born... so it could be that the pills are keeping me from hallucinations or it could be that I'd have been fine anyway.

No matter what happens, I'm glad I'm taking them because at least I feel like I tried everything I could to prevent it from getting bad. Worst case scenario, it's a very expensive, very high quality  iron pill! I've been working at keeping my thoughts positive and getting enough rest/ good food/ a little time outside each day/etc, too. So far so good!

Mom surprised me with how totally cool she was about it when I told her... she even commented that it wasn't that expensive (it was $120 to have done) so she even saw some value in it once I had explained it. She didn't know that it's full of hormones, she thought it was just nutrition. The kids and DH are pretty disgusted, but they're kind of fun to wig out!

[BennyPai]

Originally Posted by Mummoth  The kids and DH are pretty disgusted, but they're kind of fun to wig out!

[Mayachel]

Hi tHere I totally checked out of the Internet world the last few weeks and just poking around now. Since I can answer this thread... I had my girl! Birth story to come, still need to write it for myself. 

I had planned to encapsulate it myself...lots of encouragement on-line that you don't need a dehydrator, but can do it in the oven on low. At the end of the day though, I was lucky to have a friend do it as a gift for me. She advised 3 capsules 3x a day for the first 10days, and then as needed. I felt GREAT taking them. So much so that I cut down after to sparingly used now as I was worried about running out when I might crash at 6weeks. (silly, I know, I should just build my strength now...)

I love the placenta print idea, but never got around to buying paper to do it with, so I just let it go... Maybe there will be a next time!

Anyway, I am now a huge fan of taking the placenta in whatever way makes sense for the woman. My milk is great, my moods are stable etc...my girl has gained nearly two lbs in two weeks! 

[Azadehhast]

I wanted to stop back in here and update, since I've finished off all my placenta.

I wasn't able to prepare the placenta until the fourth day PP. I cut off the membranes and the cord and washed it until the water ran clean (or mostly so--it took a long time!). Then I cut it up into thumb-sized pieces and froze most of them. DH blended them into fruit smoothies for me, two smoothies per day with two pieces each, for about a week, and one and one for another week. I think I had about 2 1/2 weeks of smoothies. Only one smoothie tasted a little irony, and one had an especially membranous piece of placenta in it that didn't blend (that was yucky); aside from that, I couldn't detect the placenta.

The main reasons I wanted to eat my placenta were to replenish the nutrients in my body, and to avoid PPD, since I am quite prone to depression, especially in the winter. I'd been feeling rather depressed in the last month or so of the pregnancy anyway, and with the way the birth turned out (planned home UC turned C/S after 49 hours of labour), I'd say the likelihood of becoming depressed was pretty high. But this last month, aside from frustration at the pain and physical disability, I've been probably the happiest I've been ever. The first week, I was incredibly weepy, over everything. I'd just look at my sweet boy and burst into tears of love. :) But I've had not a sign of sadness. So...well, who can say how I'd feel otherwise, but even if the affect is only imaginary, I'm glad for it! 

[rustydaisies]

I had DP prepare and make me smoothies, i dont know how much he put in each smoothie in the first few days post partum, but i never tasted it, and he ran the fresh placenta through the food processer seperatley to make sure there were absolutley no chunks it worked pretty well.  i still have five ice cubes of placenta that i am saving for really bad days, i drank the smoothies the whole first week and have had a placenta smoothie on 2 days seperatley.  it was wonderful!  ive felt great!  but i am still bleeding.....

[BennyPai]

I was planning on making placenta prints again and adding a third placenta to my freezer to await some future planting ceremony.  Unexpected events caused my baby to miss out on receiving all of her cord blood and I was left with a general unsatisfied feeling around the birth, so I went in another direction:  I found a doula who is certified in placenta encapsulation online.  She is located hours away, but she offered to encapsulate not only Emberley's placenta but also my 2nd and 3rd DDs' placentas if I shipped them to her overnight.  A friend of mine happened to have two small styrofoam coolers in her basement.  DP and I packed all three placentas in one cooler on top of ice and added more ice around them before topping with the second cooler and duct-taping it thoroughly.  The postmaster asked my DP if it was lobster and he just answered, "Not quite."  She didn't ask any more questions.  LOL!  What a great Maine flavour our birth story has...

I feel as though I've taken this birth back and made it my own.  I can't explain it fully, but here is what this amazing doula did for me:

She called as soon as she received our package.  SHe said the ice had started to melt and leak a little, so the postal folks just put it in a plastic bag and delivered it, and they all arrived in great condition.  She kept me on the phone while she inspected them and we had a great conversation.  She handled my three placentas with care and with a spiritual awareness I've only read about.  She made a tincture for my DDs and capsules for me to take during this post-partum period as well as capsules from the previous placentas to be frozen and used to help with symptoms of menopause in the future.  She also dehydrated the umbilical cords, shaped into hearts.  She was able to make placenta prints of Emberley's placenta, and I should be receiving them soon.  I can't wait to frame them and hang them in the birth room.  *I love how we've gone from calling it the "office" or "computer room" to the Birth Room.   

So I've been taking the placenta capsules twice daily and both DP and I have noticed a calmness coming over me since.  She usually charges 200 per placenta plus fees for any additional services, such as placenta prints and tinctures, but she charged just $450 for all that she provided for us and let us make a payment arrangement.  I am so grateful to this woman.  I will take photos once the prints arrive and share them here.

[LilMomma83]

I took mine in capsule form for about a month...I slowly weaned off after Christmas. I did notice a slight decrease in mood as I stopped taking them, but, not terrible since I "weaned" off. I took a few when trying to increase milk supply (not sure if it helped since I increased pumping and started domperidone at the same time) and took some today - first day back in the office - I did feel far less weepy after taking some today, so I think they helped. I still have more to keep using "as needed" :-)