what to do with my placenta?

[snugglebug14]

I definately want to save my placenta. So far these are my plans, but I would greatly appreciate any input.
-I want prints made of the placenta and bought so really good quality watercolor paper for it. (Those of you who have done it, did you use ink or paint for your prints?)
-I eventually want to plant it, but we aren't staying in this house too much longer. So, should I freeze it until I'm in my new home (not sure when that will be)? Or should I plant it in a pot, and in a year plant a tree in the pot until we can move the whole thing to the ground?
-I've thought of preparing a part of it to use medicinally if needed. Should I make a tincture? Dry it? I know it can be used for ppd and pp hemorrhage, are there other medicinally uses?
Thanks

[greenthumb3]

Hi, there!

I'd like to make a comment related to arts and crafts and placentas, as your project sounds interesting and much like one I have planned.

I bought a two -pack of canvas and some acrylic paints and I will be doing a "stamp" of my (washed and edit to add: patted-dry) placenta. I am excited to try it. I decided to do the colors like a tree, with varying shades of green for the "leaves" and brown for the "branches and trunk". I'll be using small artists' sponges to apply the paint. I also have gold paint and a tiny leaf stamp to add detail. I bought some smaller canvases to play with a bit, to get the feel of the paint and stamp technique before doing the "real ones". I have never really done acrylics before, but I am excited to give this a go. I plan on making one for my midwife, as a gift, and one for myself. Edit: the hard part is waiting for the placenta to come out.

Good luck with your ideas!!

[ralphie76]

I definitely want to plant my future placentas too. We plan on moving within 5 years, so our plan is to freeze the placenta for a year, then on or around the first birthday, plant it in a HUGE pot with a tree or bush. Then the pot can move with us when we go. It will be a pain in the butt to move a huge heavy potted plant, but it would be more painful to me to leave it behind!

I love your ideas about prints!

Good luck and enjoy your placenta- they are so awesome.

[mamamoo]

I would definitely dry and encapsulate at least some of it. I do my wholeplacenta, but it helped me tremendously after my last birth with ppd!

[hubris]

Mine from DS2 is still in the freezer, two years later. Someday I will plant it, but not until I'm in a house where I would be happy to stay for a long time, or where I would feel at peace moving and leaving that tree. We're in the 'burbs now, I don't want to live here much longer, and I wouldn't want to leave the tree behind here.

Pregnant with #3 now and we'll freeze this placenta, too.

[orangeiron]

one comment about burying it. you have to bury it DEEP, because animals will smell it and dig it up and you really don't want that, so i would not plant it in a pot with a tree, i would keep it in the freezer until you are ready to plant it. dd1's placenta was in the freezer for about 8 months where she was born in chicago and then we drove it out to maine (in triple layer insulation bags) to my parents house where it sat in the freezer for another 5 months before it got in the ground. dd2's placenta is still in our freezer 13 months later...
and i think i would use ink if i were you, but i don't have any experience on that one.

[tamagotchi]

I think lots of people end up freezing them for a while before planting. DS's placenta has been frozen for 22 months, and now we finally bought a house with a backyard, so we will plan to plant it some time this summer