Placentas....what will you do with yours? A topic not for the squeamish.

[foxytocin]

I've been putting up rhubarb off and on all week and a friend of mine mentions that in her family they always joke about how much cooked rhubarb looks like afterbirth. The correlation will forever be etched in my impressionable brain. Now, I know that there are people out there who cook and eat their placentas because of the nutritional value and all. If it was just me and a newly birthed infant in the wilderness, I would consider this, but I don't think it's a choice I would want to have to make. But that's just my own feelings on the matter.

Speaking of placentas and the like, are any of you planning to save yours?
I'm on the fence. We saved DD's, put it in the freezer until we had more time to deal with it, forgot about it, and then "re-discovered" it a year later quite by surprise. I, of the stomache of steel, very nearly threw up. DH planted it deeply under a rose bush and the dog tried to dig it up. Had to move the rose this spring anyway. For us, the whole experience was pretty much a bust.

This delivery will probably be at the hospital. Anyone had a hospital birth and requested that the placenta go home with them? I'm wondering if the average hospital staff would be cool with that.

Thought and comments, please!!!!

-Leah

[ilovebeingamom]

We were planning on planting ours under a tree also. I have thought about the dog possibly digging it up, but he isn't really a digger. Sorry to hear that yours was a bust. We just planted a tree for our son, and when our baby is born, will plant her tree. I found a flat rock and put his handprint and name on it, and will do the same for when baby comes.

I think the hospital staff would consider it an odd request to take home the placenta. I don't think we asked for our hospital birth. Our next one we plan to homebirth.

Dh found this link, interestingly, just last night about serving up the placenta. I have no wish to do this, but if were starving, might consider it.
http://www.babycenter.com/general/1333089.html

[myrrhmaid]

Yeah, I've heard of folks with hospital births taking the placenta home
http://www.geocities.com/virtualbirth/placenta.html
Check out this page for info on using the placenta.
I was going to steam, dry powder and encapsulate DD's but it was very small and calcificated so I went a head and passed.
For DS we buried it under the house in the exact spot where ds was born.

[KeysMama]

at hospitals in my area, you must have it delivered to the morgue, then the funeral home and pick it up there . How macabre. I have had couple want me to sneak it out with me ( doula) but I don't want to be *that* doula, kwim?
Anyway, for me, we did a blessingway and planted a tree for my childs first birthday. It was great. Here is a story I wrote about the ceremony I wrote(and did similar for a friend
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=87&subpageid=75827&ck=

[mountain mom]

We kept the placenta and we had a hospital birth. Actually at this hospital they ask if you want to take the placenta.

We had hopes of dehydrating it and encapsulating it and then I would take the capsule during menopause. But alas my dd's birth ended in a csection outcome and the placenta sat out of refrideration too long.

In the end we hiked to a private place near our home and returned the placenta to nature.

[ketilave]

Our hospitals don't let you take it with you.

I haven't thought much about the placenta. My DH is pretty conservative. Plus, I have every intention of being out of this house in the next year so I don't want to do anything emotional in that way.

[lena_girl]

My placenta will go in the trash can or whatever else they do with it. Our freezer is stuffed with frozen crap dh insists I buy but he rarely eats, and we will probably have to move a month or so after the baby's born so I don't plan to plant anything. As for eating it, I don't think I could ever do that. I throw up to easily.

[naturegirl]

I think what I would like to do is to bury it on a spot on some new land we purchases recently and plant a tree at the same time. That way when we build our house out there in 4-5 years we will already have something from the birth there. :D My dh will probably think it is a strange request but I don't think so. BTW, how long can you store it out of the freezer before burying it? It may take me a few days to get out there to plant it and the tree...

Cheryl
:hippie

[SamuraiEarthMama]

there's a fabulous story in "babycatcher" about a midwife who saved an unusual placenta to share with other midwives... she spread it out on a cookie sheet and covered it with foil to freeze. a few days later, she comes home to an odd-smelling house. seems her teenage son put the frozen "pizza" in the oven to bake. once she quit laughing and found him, he was in the fetal position in the den and not speaking to her!

another placenta story... i was doula for a wonderful woman who had me at her VBAC birth, and afterwards she was starving for a burrito from the local cantina, so of course that's what we got for her. we got burritos all around, but they're huge... i could only eat half of mine. i rewrapped it in foil, and headed back to my boyfriend's house (i knew he loved them, and would finish it off for me). as i handed the packet to him, i mentioned that she had had an unusually shaped placenta. his eyes opened wide and he stared at the foil-wrapped warm object in his hands with absolute and complete horror. when i realized he thought i'd handed him the placenta, i just about died! he still hasn't really forgiven me (nor does he believe i didn't do it on purpose).

as for this baby, i'm not sure what we'll do. probably bury it under a tree, in the front yard to avoid dog diggage. we'll be moving in a couple of years, so i wish i could plant it in a container with a young tree, but i think it probably needs the microbes and earthworms and all the things the ground can give it to break it up right.

katje

[kimberlylibby]

I'm having a c/s and it will go to the hospital placenta factory I'm sure.

Kimberly

[Jlcampbellkidz]

I didn't read about what I could do with the placenta until right before my first daughter was born. I don't think that hospital would have let us have it anyway.

With this baby it was one of the first questions I asked the midwife. She said that many woman at this hospital had requested that and it wasn't a problem. We are just suppose to bring some plastic ziplocks and an ice chest. We have not decided were it will be burried. I would kind of like to plant a new bush, tree, or annual flower garden and put the placenta beneath that.

BTW Samuri: great story's

[mountain mom]

Kimberlibby...
I had a csection too and got to keep mine. Although every hospital is different I went in telling them no matter what the outcome of the birth I wanted the placenta. Maybe ask the attending nurse to ziplok it for you(if you want it) :)

[SamuraiEarthMama]

it's unthinkable to me that a hospital would withhold something that belongs to you! for pity's sake... how do they justify that?

but according to the venerable Cecil of The Straight Dope, it's true. (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_104.html) apparently some hospitals sell the things for cosmetic use... as Jessica Mitford once said, follow the money.

go check it out! it's quite an educational page... AND it concludes with a bonus placenta recipe, courtesy of Mothering magazine, circa 1983!

mmmm!

katje, wondering what's for dinner....

[foxytocin]

Placenta Romanoff! Leave it to Saturday Night Live. Oh my. Samurai, thank you so much for that informative link. I had heard rumors of such things...............

This topic has been very educational. I am most definitely going to ask our hospital about their policy. Thanks, everyone!

-Leah

[LizaBear]

We live in an apartment, so I imagine we will freeze this baby's placenta until we can get to my parents place (farm) - we'll bury it there and plant something in honor of our child.

[juju]

we planted our other two children's placenta's with fig trees. although, we froze them for about 4 years before planting. we lived in a small condo when my first two were born. we knew we would someday have a home and wanted to plant them so we froze them. i would get a kick out of pulling it out and showing people. the placentas went cross country with us when we moved. we had them in a little cooler by themself, but they smelled funky when we arrived. we just refroze them until we were able to plant them.

my son was almost 4 years old when we finally planted his. my daughter was over a year old. now we have a home this baby's will probably be planted in the fall, but who knows.

[starrynight]

I kept my son's placenta and it's still in the deep freeze. I kept it because I'd read online about how some people make an imprint of it and that it looks like The Tree of Life. I saw this on a web site somewhere. I thought that sounded pretty cool and it would be a neat thing to hang on the wall in my son's room or our bedroom (or anywhere in the house actually). Of course, now that I'm pregnant again I'll have two placentas to turn into art. Hopefully the one in the freezer will still be in good enough shape. :love

[Aura_Kitten]

** i'm a visitor from the July board... sorry to invade. ;) i saw this post in the New Posts thing and had to respond ~

i'm planning a Lotus birth ~ we'll be keeping the cord + placenta intact until the cord falls off on it's own, then i'm going to bury them.

for a hospital birth, i'd suggest making your wishes known often ahead of time... otherwise there might be a slip-up and they might whisk it away and "dispose" of it immediately after birth.

congrats on all of your pregnancies and best wishes to you all. :)