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Monday, August 20, 2012

You're going to eat W H A T???


I have had some people (many people actually) ask me about what I do with my placenta after my babies are born at home. In a hospital they typically consider the placenta a bio hazard and toss if after inspecting it for missing parts. Well, that is not exactly what I do. My midwife does inspect it for missing parts, but afterwards I utilize it for all it's worth!
Why? is the most common question along with how. So I'm going to answer those questions here. Hope this helps some of you that are looking to find a better healing route after birth.

Why's
  • Possibly prevent any PPD
  • Shorten bleeding times after birth
  • Balance your hormones
  • Enhance your milk supply
  • Combat fatigue
  • Increase your energy
  • Recover more quickly from birth
  • Help your children as they grow
  • Possibly help others in their postpartum times
  • Have a hormone cocktail money can not buy for menopause
These are a few reasons why you and every mom would want to consider utilizing their placenta after birth. My personal biggest reason for doing this the first time was to avoid PPD. After Shanea, my first daughter, was born I had really hard time overcoming it. Not a road I had any intention of going down again. I would do whatever it took to avoid that again.
I did avoid PPD with baby number two and three. I found it to be so much more than avoiding a bad experience with PPD though. I found that I had more energy, I healed so much faster and was less tired. As my initial ingestion ran out, I found a decrease in energy and more bleeding. All I had to do was use my tincture and I was back to feeling great. No chemicals, no doctors offices, no extra expense. Just me my cup of tea and a few drops of liquid gold, pink gold!
In short this amazing organ that we all know as after-birth waste has saved my postpartum period and honestly my family is just as grateful as I am for it!

How?

Just to give you some imagery

.................I was laying on the couch after having listened to the baby's heart tones (Ezra's) and my midwives ask me "What do you want to do with the placenta?". I'm dumb founded, I hadn't realized I needed to answer this question. I say "What are my options?". Christine says, "Well, some people eat it.". I swear she said this for shock and ahh. My mouth dropped to the floor and my stomach turned inside out and I let out a "eww!". She laughed and Damaris began to elaborate on the subject................

Basically they shared with me about how the placenta can and will help with all the things I listed above. I then asked how I would use it aside from eating it because that was NOT an option, blah! They said many people dehydrate it and put it in pill form, encapsulating. I was told all about how I could tincture it (which I liked the sounds of, since it will last forever!) and then I was told about the ways I could cook it and eat it. Again, Blach!

So what did I do and still do?

Ingestion
Dehydration
Tincture

After much thought and prayer on the topic of PPD through out my pregnancy with Ezra I felt like I needed to try ingesting the placenta right after birth. Yes, I know it sounds really gross but in ALL honesty it wasn't. Damaris was really good to cut it up small and rinse it off for me. I just swallowed it like a pill. It only left a slight metallic flavor in my mouth that I rinsed out quickly. With Ezra we didn't yet know of anyone who would encapsulate so we tried to do it ourselves. Christine and Damaris did a great job, but I didn't get any pill shells so I had to take it with a spoon in powder form. This did not work so well for me. It was odd, very hard to swallow and I had no idea how much I was taking so we decided it best to toss this idea. Meanwhile the tincture was still cooking (takes about 6-8 weeks) so I knew there would be more later to use.

With Annaka (my third pregnancy) there were several people encapsulating. However it was pricey for us so I decided to stick to the cheaper options. Ingestion after birth and tincturing. This was something that was quick easy, cheap and just as affective.

With this pregnancy (#4) I have learned even more great ideas and will be doing things a little differently. We will still tincture. I love this option because it provides me with usable liquid gold for years and years to come. I can give it to my kids when they are down or fighting off an illness. I can also give a little to a friend here and there that is in need of help postpartum. We will always tincture at least some of the placenta. I plan to do a smoothie this time directly after birth. This will help me to get the placenta in along with some protein, electrolytes, healthy carbs and fats. This will help so much to boost me up after birth. I also plan to cut up portions of the placenta and freeze it in little baggies. I will use this for smoothies on later dates in the months to come while my tincture finishes. I always find I get pretty tired around the time all the family leaves and I'm doing it all alone during the day, so I know this will be such a blessing for those days!

Those are my Why's and How's. I know they sound gross up front. But if you think about all the science behind it and the proof of the help you can get from it, the gross factor gets to be less and less. I hope this helps even one mom avoid any delayed healing, lack of energy, extended blood loss, milk supply issues or baby blues. God is SO good and He gave us this amazing organ that we nourish for ten months, while it supplies life to our unborn. Then we give birth to it only to discard it as bio hazard. People, I'm just saying it's not right. Use what the Lord has given you to help yourself in this amazing time of change into mommyhood! It will ONLY help you.

May God's Blessings be upon you!

2 comments:

  1. I started ingesting my placenta through smoothies and every day I would eat it, I felt despairing and extremely irritable. I really was hopeful it would benefit me like it has so many others. Have you heard of this happening? I am disappointed. I might try the capsules my next birth. I still have placenta in my freezer and plan to bury it in our garden because I think it deserves respect. But my experience was not a good one. There was no difference in my energy either. I did feel it helped with my milk supply, so that's a plus. Any insight would be much appreciated! Thanks!

    P.S. I apologize for posting anon, but I am very private when it comes to eating the placenta;-).

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    Replies
    1. I wish I had a good medical answer for you but this is what I do know from others I've talked to. One, if you have a thyroid imbalance it can effect your results. Two, if your life situation is very uneasy it can not be as helpful as it would be another mom. Three- Having sublexations of the spine (VERY common for everyone) can effect the way your body absorbs certain things like hormones to simple things like Vitamins. So seeing a chiropractor could be a viable option for you. Four- A vitamin D3 or magnesium deficiency can greatly effect the way your body would handle more hormones.

      All that said I'm no doctor, those are just some starting points for you. I hope one helps. I'm sorry your having a difficult time. I will be praying for you Anonymous.

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