Lotus Birth anyone

[reducereuserecycle]

Are any of you all planning a Lotus Birth? We are. Have any of you all ever had a lotus birth?

[nznats]

Yes I am
My first daughter was C-section and I hadnt read about it then, this time I am having a UBAC and that is one thing that is very important to me

[p1gg1e]

I'm not doing a full one but plan on waiting an hour or two and nursing while we cut...I don't have the guts to do a full one

[beaner&tiegs]

We're thinking about it - and at the very least, starting out that way. I've never done it before - what are your plans? As far as I understand, we'll strain it in a colander for the first 12-24 hours (I'd also like to do placenta prints, which I assume have to be done in that time while the blood is fairly fresh?!) and then use sea salt and lavendar drops once it starts to smell and wrap it in a diaper - other than that, I'm assuming very little needs to be done?!

[reducereuserecycle]

Here are our plans
we will let the placenta drain about 24 hours, I thought we'd just leave it in the bowl and empty the bowl every few hours, but I never thought of draining it in a colonder, we may do that (we may do prints, just depends on how tired we are, etc) then after about 24 hours we will wrap it in a cheesecloth and tie it lightly shut so it can still get lots of air. I will lay it on a towel, but I'm afraid a diaper may not let it get enough air to dry it out. we don't plan on putting anything on it (i have heard a lot of people treat it with salt, but I also heard that even if you don't the smell isn't really horrible) I just don't want to have salt everywhere cause i don't want to get it in the baby's eyes or in my eyes (it just seems like less to worry with) I know that it will seperate from the baby quicker in a dry environment and we have gas heat that is really dry, so i anticipate that it will seperate within a few days at the most. If it does start stinking, I think I will put something on the cheesecloth, lavendar sounds like a good idea. I don't have any lavendar oil but i do have some natural lavendar lotion i could use. I have a 2nd cheesecloth to put it in if the first one seems nasty. Once it seperates, I will freeze the placenta to bury in the spring. if the cord happens to dry in a way that is suitable, I may save it to use as a frame for some type of macrame hanging or even a little bag. I heard the Native Americans used to use the cord as a frame for a pouch. I am really excited about the Lotus Birth. Most of all i think it will keep us in bed longer and force us to relax. Also, we won't have any visitors for 1 week. I just hope the placenta is detached within a week, but I think it will.