[hildare]

s/o cause i felt like talking about it some more and not hijacking AM's thread

anybody encapsulating or doing anything else with yours? planting under a tree?

anybody done something like that before?

i love this smilie!

 

[parsley]

So, I have thought very little about placentas... in fact the only conversation I've ever had on the topic is when my grandmother (nurse practitioner) was in the Peace Corps in Paraguay 20 years ago and told me about a ritual some of the women in the community had after birth to plant the placentas to nourish their garden... Sounded exotic and irrelevent to my 15 year old ears (the idea of having children sounded exotic and irrelevent, I mean).

When I was pregnant with DD I never gave the placenta a single thought. In the past 3 years, I've heard of people encapsulating it to help with PPD but I've never talked to anyone who actually did that or anything else.

Anyone want to give me a basic education or recommend some educating material?

Hildare, what did you do with yours? You sound so passionate about it, do you want to tell me why?

 

[frogautumn]

With DS#2, the midwives bagged and froze it right after the birth, when I was feeling up to it, I encapsulated it myself.

I wasn't sure I had it in me, but it really wasn't squicky at all.

I'd definitely do it again with this birth.

I didn't take the capsules regularly...but I experienced a little bit of baby blues and took them as I felt I needed. I do think it made a difference.

 

[hildare]

i encapsulated the placenta from dd's birth! i feel like it made a huge difference for me.. i've always been (tearfully, ragingly) sensitive to hormonal fluctuations like pms and with a m/c. i didn't have anything i would consider ppd with dd and the placenta, so i'll absolutely do it again.

even with a c-birth, the hospital didn't give us a hard time at all about wanting to keep it.

for us, the person who encapsulated it had a bit of a hard time, though. she wanted to do it within a week of birth, and we were stuck in hospital. i don't know if it's a state or federal law that it cannot be transported in raw form by anyone other than the owner (LOL) but we had to have a friend sneak it home and the encapsulator friend came and processed it minimally and then took it back to her house to use her equipment to freeze dry. i was super glad to have somebody else do it, though, i wouldn't have been able to, being overwhelmed with a super demanding, difficult-to-nurse screamer.

the placenta person also made prints! so cool! and dried a bit of cord and membrane, put them in special little bags, videotaped a reading of the placenta (like a tealeaf reading) which may be more woo than some services provide, but i thought it was pretty cool.

dd's placenta (i am totally not making this up) was heart shaped and had a big shape in the middle that really looked like a stag. it was the craziest thing and i never would have known it if my friend hadn't done the prints!

then if you read about what the placenta does.. they are so cool, mamas! magic! i love love love it!

eta: i don't know of any books... i learned some from mdc and the google, but if anyone knows of any i'd sure like to read more!

 

[mamashannon]

I hadn't heard of placenta encapsulation until after DD was born. I have a friend who just recently went through a training to do just that and I was going to hire her to do it. But now she just found out she's pregnant with her fourth, so I don't know that she'll have the time... We'll have to see, because I really want to have it done. I've read about the benefits and they make perfect sense to me. My hormones made me a crazy woman and although I didn't suffer from PPD, I certainly had the blues. I think, too, that having your first baby is such a shocker. No one can prepare you for the sleep depravation, the unconsolable crying (both me AND the baby at times, LOL!), the difficulties with nursing (at least for us, it was VERY difficult at first), and on top of that, having to recover from childbirth (which in my case, included a traumatic hospital experience).

So, in short, I really wish I had been able to benefit from my placenta with DD, but oh well. My OB did show it to me though--it was HUGE! I had never seen one before. It kind of looked like an over-sized tri tip steak, hahaha! I am definitely more prepared this time around though, and will plan to encapsulate this little one's placenta. I don't think it's crazy at all!

 

[Kaydove]

I'm a doula-in-training (yet to attend births due to a full time job) and plan to offer placenta encapsulation. This website has a lot of great info http://placentabenefits.info/ , but I wouldn't use one of their placenta encapsulators because the person who started the site and organization made changes to how its structured so now its like a pyramid scheme. She collects $40 from everyone in her org for every placenta they encapsulate, and the average charge is $100 for placenta encapsulation. The legal benefits she supposedly offers, wouldn't be effective in a court case. Just a warning since I'm on a forum for placenta encapsulators that include a lot of former members of pbi.

Often doulas offer the service, so if you choose to have a doula, ask about placenta encapsulation. If they don't do, they might know someone who would.

I'm definitely encapsulating my placenta, the scientific research is sound and makes sense to me. It used to be thought that mammals consumed their placenta to clean the den to ward off intruders, but new research has found that's not the case, they consumed for hormonal benefits. Since mammals don't ingest the amniotic fluid than it can't be assumed that the mammal ingests placenta to clean the den.

 

[krjt]

I encapsulated mine last time, although it had sat in my freezer for 6 months before I got around to it. I was living in Sweden and I tried to find someone who could do it. Let's just say they are unfamiliar with the practice. So, I can't speak to the benefits (although I believe they are real!), but it was a total kick to do it myself and enjoy the finished product. I'm a bit too squeamish to eat it cooked or raw (although, maybe a little in a smoothie?) but the pills were fine. This time I hope to have it done quickly to use during the post-partum period. If you want to do it yourself, you can totally watch a youtube video and see the step-by-step process. You need your basic cooking tools (cutting board, sharp knife, maybe scissors, a steamer pot), your oven, some spices of you want, and some capsules. You can buy an encapsulator quite cheaply from a health store, or you can do it by hand (I'm glad I sprung for the device!).

 

[MrsKatie]

Hi - I'm popping in from the November DDC - because I have to comment and ask a question here!

I am definitely going to consume my placenta after birth (wow I SO never thought I'd say that) - I had a wretched first trimester (emotionally) and am prone to severe depression in my life in general, and I'm curious as to whether there are more benefits to consuming the placenta raw (I hear of women who have it in a smoothie) as opposed to encapsulated. I am (obviously) much more eager to have my placenta encapsulated, and even have a doula who will do so for me. But does anyone know if raw is better?

I'll do whatever it takes to help me avoid PPD. I'm really nervous about it.

Thanks, ladies!

 

[mamanoish]

I am on my third child, and am thinking about possibly freezing it then planting a tree over it (eventually).. I can honestly say that I haven't mentioned this to my husband because he thinks I am a crazy hippie, lol. He usually goes along with my plans to make me happy though When I had DS1, the hospital never even let me see the placenta. It was gone before I even knew what hit me. With DS2, I had him at a freestanding birth center, my MW asked if we wanted to keep it. Honestly, I was scared to even see it after seeing pictures of lotus births throughout my pregnancy. But she insisted that it was a beautiful thing and only something I'd see a few times in my life, so to check it out. I looked. I didn't like what I saw, LOL.

Anyway, we didn't end up keeping it and my MW seemed so bummed that she had to discard it.

THIS time, I'd like to freeze it and save it until we buy our house. We currently have a long-term rental home because I am going to have to relocate to go to midwifery school about 3 hours away in about a year. I have lived in the same area my whole life, so we plan on buying here. I haven't really looked into freezing it for a possible few years but yeah. If possible I would like to do that. Guess I need to get used to the idea of handling placentas before midwifery school.

 

[Right of Passage]

Smoothies! I had some smoothie last time and then encapsulated and wowzers made a HUGE difference (as well as staying in bed and taking it easy). I stopped bleeding by 6 weeks, I had way more energy, I felt stronger, my milk came in quickly.

 

[MrsKatie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Right of Passage

Smoothies! I had some smoothie last time and then encapsulated and wowzers made a HUGE difference (as well as staying in bed and taking it easy). I stopped bleeding by 6 weeks, I had way more energy, I felt stronger, my milk came in quickly.

I'm considering this. How did you "prep" the portion you used for the smoothie? Did you drain the blood, etc? And how much did you use in the smoothie?

Thanks!

 

[krjt]

MrsKatie, I don't know anything specific about if raw is better than encapsulated, but here are some thoughts:

~You can eat the raw immediately, so it gets into your system sooner (It takes a good 12-15 hours, start to finish, to encapsulate, if I remember correctly, and that's assuming there's someone at the ready waiting for the placenta).

~The raw placenta won't stay good for long (like any raw meat), although I suppose you could freeze it in small chunks and use that way.

~I know some women eat a chunk raw and then encapsulate the rest.

~Based on what I know about food in general, I would assume that *some* vitamins/nutrients are lost through either the freezing or cooking & Dehydrating process.

Those are my thoughts... anyone else?

 

[ozzyemm]

When i was preggo with michael. we had a whole thread with recipes. One was a V-8 blended with placenta. The other was a strawberry based smoothy. So, anything to disguise the appearance and texture of the placenta.

We are working under the radar with a midwife and doula to try to get a vaginal birth in a hospital, so I won't know till afterwards (there is a no VBAC policy in my county and in the THREE counties surrounding mine.

 

[MrsKatie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozzyemm

We are working under the radar with a midwife and doula to try to get a vaginal birth in a hospital, so I won't know till afterwards (there is a no VBAC policy in my county and in the THREE counties surrounding mine.

Wow. That SUCKS. I really hope you can get around that and have the birth you and your baby deserve!

Thanks for all the input, moms. I'm leaning towards blending some up asap and then taking the rest encapsulated.

 

[Right of Passage]

My midwife made my smoothies for me, we won't have that this time but I made some recently for a mama friend.

The placenta sat for a few hours while baby was still attached. I dumped out what juices was with it at that point, rinsed it, used some kitchen sheers and cut it up. She had a huge placenta (and a deliciously plump baby to show for it) but thinking of an average sized placent I'd cut it up in forths, then each forth into small more belndable peices.

So a forth of an average sized placenta, 1 cup of frozen mixed berries, 1/2 cup yogurt(flavored vanilla or berry adds more sweetness), and a 1/2-1cup of orange juice, blend until smooth. We divded hers into disposable cups, she drank half the smoothies the first day, we froze the rest so she could have a smoothie per day, until it was all gone.

 

[FrannieM]

I admit I am scared to do anything with it. I am sure it would be no problem to hold onto it here in the NL as we do homebirth... but I don't know what I would do with it... I am not sure I could bring myself to consume it? I will need to read a bit more about it.

 

[ozzyemm]

Frannie, I think the ick factor is why many people choose to encapsulate it. I too am having a hard time getting over the ick factor, but with my son, I had horrible, undiagnosed PPD, and I truly want to avoid that this time. Ooh, and I just realized, this baby will be born in the winter, and I normally get depressed in the winter anyway.

 

[yippiehippie]

OK, this is how awesome DH is, he did it all for me

, and he hates the site of blood! The MW looked over it with him and I had the instruction site saved on the computer, so he did it the same day. At first he just put it crumbled in smoothies, but I could taste it and it tastes like nasty meat so he encapsulated it. It helped tremendously and I'll definitely do it again

I did not try any raw, but will if I have bleeding issues.

 

[Right of Passage]

Seriously that's a rockin' DH you have! I'm hoping I can get mine to do some placenta work for me.

I will say I encapsulted about half of the pills last time but I never remember pills so they are still sitting in my freezer.

 

[Adaline'sMama]

OK, Hildare. I have an update for you.

My friend (who lives about 60 miles away says she will encapsulate my placenta for me!!! Yippee!!! (in excitment. Yippiehippie is not my IRL friend

)

So, now to figure out if the hospital will let me keep it (if I decide to birth at the hospital) and how to get it away from the hospital before it rots (like last time).