Two and a half weeks after my son's birth... popping in to update. I considered myself at very high risk for PPD, due to previous experience and also just sort of situational stuff. I believe strongly that a lot of PPD is nutrition-based (well,
lack of nutrition-based) and my bod is probably fairly worn out and low on nutritional stores after 6 pregnancies in 8 years, plus gluten-intolerance and all the horrid things it does to the guts.
So... I prepared myself as best I could, with really good supplements, support/help from my mom and doula, and then I wanted to encapsulate my placenta.
I managed to get my placenta, which was apparently a miracle. The Air Force hospital had never been asked for one before. Had to sign a form stating that I was going against medical advice, since I'd had a high-risk pregnancy, and they really wanted to send the placenta to pathology, just in case.
I had planned to have a placenta smoothie as soon afterward as possible, with a few more chunks saved for a few more smoothies, and then the rest left for me to deal with sometime. I didn't want to make my mom or husband deal with the "gross" stuff of dehydrating and encapsulating.
Well, as it turned out, my son had low blood sugar thanks to my gestational diabetes (even though it was VERY well-managed), and was on the verge of being taken to the NICU. I needed my smoothie ASAP, couldn't wait for me to get home and make it myself. My mom and I also misunderstood each other... she described my placenta as being tiny, so I told her not to bother saving some for dehydrating. (Still wish I'd been able to see it myself. I've never really looked at any of my placentas.
) So, she prepped it all for smoothies. She said it was VERY tough and could not be cut (I have some pretty darn sharp knives... can't imagine that it really couldn't be cut, but... that's what she says.) She sort of scraped it into bits instead, and then made little packets of bits with Press-N-Seal, each one approximately the size of a thumb. For what it's worth, she had expected to be thoroughly 100% grossed out, but was putting on her Mom Hat and just doing what needed to be done. As it turned out, she was overcome by a feeling of power and "magic"... really felt like the placenta was what I needed and such. So, instead of being grossed out, she felt all connected with womankind and all that.
Her births were all pretty horrible and typical for the 70s, so... it was cool that she got to be part of a crunchy, earthy tradition.
Anyway... I had really hoped that the placenta smoothies would bring the Milk Fairy, as well as preventing PPD. I'm still not sure what's up in that regard. My supply is very weird this time... oversupply with all the choking, gagging, and gassy green poops from my son... and then suddenly almost no milk, with sore nipples and my son nursing every 30 minutes and not getting enough to fall asleep happily. I've been having a smoothie about every other day, but there doesn't seem to be a connection between the monsoon/drought cycle with my milk and the smoothies. I may try to get one every day for a few days, to see what that does. I just honestly don't like smoothies much. I make mine with hemp milk, frozen berries, honey, coconut oil, and sometimes an egg yolk or half an avocado (which makes it REALLY fluffy, LOL.) They taste fine... no hint of funky bits at all. I just... don't like smoothies much, I guess.
Oh, and since I lost a fair amount of blood, due to surgery, and hate iron pills, I had the genius idea of putting a frozen cube of ground up beef liver in a smoothie...
Not good. Don't recommend it. Very funky.
Oh, geez... I forgot to even talk about PPD stuff... um... I seem to be doing good. I had a very low day the first week, where it all felt like it was starting... I was "teetering on the brink" and just really feeling bad about everything. It just so happened to have occurred at the end of a marathon low-milk nursing session. But if you've ever had "the crazy" you might have experienced the unique, distinct feeling that I get in my head. It's a physical sensation... difficult to describe, but I've learned that it absolutely corresponds with me being nuts/depressed/OCD-ish. It's a tightness in my skull. Anyway... that's the worst it's gotten. That night luckily went well, with my son sleeping very nicely and nursing happily and the Milk Fairy made a visit in the middle of the night. I've had some low moments since... but they're just moments. So maybe the placenta is working it's magic. Maybe it's all the fish oil I'm taking. I'll never know for certain.
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