We're Doing What?

This is going to sound crazy and you will know that we are on the crunchy bandwagon for sure, but I think it makes a lot of sense - we are going to have the placenta encapsulated.  No, not encapsulated as a keepsake for Chubby to dig up on his 18th birthday, encapsulated as pills that I will take after the birth.

I first read about placenta encapsulation before I was pregnant and thought it sounded a little gross.  The placenta is the tissue that develops inside the uterus to connect the umbilical cord to the baby.  It is rich in hormones, nutrients, and other minerals like iron.  Most mammals, even those very high on the food chain, eat their placenta and in some areas of the world women eat theirs after giving birth.  The idea of that is more than I can handle.  However, there is a process of cooking, drying, grinding, and placing the ground placenta in capsules that I could wrap my head around.  I take so many other supplements right now that one more couldn't be that much more difficult.

Now you're probably wondering why anyone would do something so weird and seemingly gross.  As I mentioned, the placenta is really rich in hormones and anecdotally women are reporting a real reduction in the occurrence of postpartum depression, quicker recovery time after birth, and an increase in milk production when they take the placenta pills.  The placenta produces large amounts of the chemical corticotropin releasing hormone or CRH during the third trimester of pregnancy.  The quantities are so large that some research suggests it temporarily interferes with the brain's production of the chemical causing women to be extremely low in this chemical in the weeks following birth.  Because the placenta is so rich in this chemical at the time of birth, it is believed that taking the pills will help to increase the levels of this chemical after birth and reduce the likelihood of postpartum depression.  Given my difficult recovery after Sarah Graves' birth that I posted about here, I was motivated to have a plan to head that off this time.  As it turns out, one of the doulas who works with our doula service does placenta encapsulation and after reading about her experience after the birth of her third child, I was convinced I wanted to give it a try.

I have heard that a lot of spouses are completely grossed out by the idea, but to Aaron's credit, he took it in stride.  He hasn't balked at it and I think has taken the attitude that if it will help alleviate some of the stress and discomfort after the birth, he is up for anything.  I'm lucky like that.

Here's how it will work for us: when we go to the hospital to give birth, we will bring some large ziploc bags and a cooler full of ice.  Our doula and midwives know that we plan to keep the placenta, so as soon as it is delivered (I am envisioning that part of birth going smoothly this time) and the cord has a chance to quit pulsating, they will put the placenta in a bag in the ice chest.  Then, we will call Melanie who will be doing the encapsulation and she will come pick it up.  She will do the encapsulation at her house and deliver the pills to us a day or two later.  Depending on the size of the placenta, that will dictate how many pills there are.

In reading more about placenta encapsulation, I came upon this humorous article written from the dad's point of view.

I also came across this blog post written by another client of Melanie's chronicling the process of making the placenta pills.

Here is a site that describes the benefits of placenta encapsulation.

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