Encapsulating the Placenta
Here's what can happen when you decide to take this matter into your own hands...
If you have had a conversation with a doula, you most likely heard about the idea of encapsulating your placenta. If you havent heard of it, you are probably envisioning the placenta encased in shrink-wrap...at least thats what I thought the first time I heard the term.
Consuming the placenta is called placentophagy. People who have eaten their placenta claim a range of benefits, including raising energy, increasing milk supply, level out hormones, lower chances of postpartum depression, helping to treat insomnia, and speeding up recovery from childbirth. It is also chock full of protein and nutrients.
What it actually is is a way for the mother, and ultimately the baby, to reap the added benefits of consuming the nutrients and hormones, including stem cells, that would otherwise be left behind in the placenta. You may not accredit too much validation to this idea, but consider this: that the placenta was created to sustain life. It most likely had more than enough to reach the end of your term, and the surplus of that sustainability means left over nutrition. As a result of encapsulation, many mothers report experiencing an increase in energy and a decrease in negative feelings and postpartum depression, among other benefits, including increasing milk supply, leveling out hormones, treating insomnia, and speeding up recovery from childbirth.
Consuming the placenta is called placentophagy. Though there is a lack of scientifically proven results from this practice, I dont see that there are any negative effects from it, and even worst case scenario, it is still chock full of protein and nutrients.
The doula my friend had referred me to wanted $250 to encapsulate my placenta for me. This is all well and good. I can appreciate the time and effort it takes for one to do this. If you are at all squeamish about handling such things, then yes, that is a perfectly prudent investment.
However, I made it my mission to do this myself. I decided to buy the equipment needed to process it correctly. The added bonus in doing things yourself is you now have new, useful equipment to use outside of this project as well. I ordered these items from Amazon.com. I will create a list below for those who want to try the same endeavor. *
I realize that this is part of a doula's livelihood. I am not trying to overstep their authority on the matter. I am sure leaving it in the hands of an expert will ensure a beautifully crafted end result. This is just my personal experience in dealing with the situation with the choice I made.
HOSPITALS
One thing that I was surprised about was the way the hospital attendees treated the placenta as biohazardous waste, and we were required to remove it from the premises well before I was able to leave myself. Luckily, this was easily arranged, as I had relatives there who were happy to take it for me. They provided us with sealable bags to contain the placenta and umbilical cord. Please note, you will need to bring an ice chest. Most hospitals do have ice that you can fill it with. You also need to notify the nurses of your intentions in advance, as otherwise they are quick to dispose of it.
Sorry for gore, but if you are going to do this, you can't be too squeemish. If you are, then its well worth the money to have it done by a doula!
CORD BLOOD
Just a note here...I originally thought I was going to bank the cord blood from the placenta instead. Then I actually did more research and found that the best thing to do is allow the placenta to continue pumping blood to the baby even after birth. Then you can “strip” the cord, pushing the last bit of blood into the baby before severing it. This ensures that the most stem cells and nutrients get to the child, with great benefit. If you bank the blood, the doctor will inevitably try to retain as much of it as possible, thereby immediately clamping off the cord at birth, and shorting the baby of critical blood when it is most vulnerable and needs it the most. The possible future benefits of banking the cord blood are equal to the benefits of allowing the blood to be pumped to the child in the first place. The other main difference is the incredible cost of banking the blood, which works out to thousands of dollars! While I did consider donating the cord blood, I felt that ultimately, it would be in my baby's best interest to go ahead to let her get all the cord blood at birth.
TREE OF LIFE
Another thing that I discovered is a very satisfying keepsake of the placenta- that is the image of a tree that appears when you do an ink blot impression of it onto paper. This has been referred to as “the tree of life”, for obvious reasons. The remaining attached umbilical cord creates a convincing trunk and root system for the tree, while the body of the placenta veins out, looking like branches and a canopy of leaves. Simple food coloring works well. I used a basting brush to distribute several colors. I wanted it to look like autumn, and also convey a subliminal rainbow. I felt that the best effect was achieved by leaving the placenta in place, laying flat, and pushing the paper down over the form to pick up the ink.
If you plan on doing a tree of life impression, you need to do this right away, or freeze it until you can do it. I waited quite a few days before I felt up for taking on the project, and kept it frozen until I was ready for the undertaking. I then defrosted it in the refrigerator for 48 hours. I did several impressions, using different colored dyes and different paper types and colors of construction paper. You could use the placenta blood as your dye, but I personally liked the food coloring prints better. I like the results from thick, high quality drawing paper. Glossy paper and regular printer paper didnt seem to turn out as nicely... After you are satisfied with the results of your “print” then you can start the dehydration process.
This would be great as a page in a birth scrapbook, or framed nicely and hung on the wall.
1st attempt at the tree of life print...used the cord blood as ink. Was a little dark and I used a thin paper.
After a few prints, I started adding food coloring to make it more vibrant. Also used a thicker drawing paper.
My final print...I was very happy with the way this turned out. The colors are vibrant and progress through the rainbow from bottom to top. I felt this representation was the most meaningful and aesthetically pleasing.
HEART
I cut the rest of the cord off of the placenta, and placed it in the shape of a heart on one of the dehydrator trays. I didn't tie it or anything, but once its dried its hard and stiff, so you should have no problems keeping it this shape if adequately dried. If concerned, you could easily twist the ends together. I even kept the piece of umbilical cord that my sister cut off after the initial snip that my fiance made. With that segment, I left it straight, so I could create an “arrow” to go through the heart.
This is an aesthetically pleasing keepsake. When I was done with this, I sealed it inside of a vacuum sealed pouch. I included a little paper rose that adorned the diaper cake from my baby shower as an additional nostalgic and decorative element. You could dress it up even more with a cutting of some nice fabric as a background, and even some ribbon or yarn. There are some spiritual practices that value the umbilical cord as a power amulet in rituals. Please see the resulting image...
This would be a great addition to a birth scrapbook.
You may notice this one turned out rather dark. My friend who had it done for her had a much lighter brown one. I am thinking, if you set the dehydrator at a lower temperature, or didnt leave it in for as long, or possibly washed, soaked, or even bleached it first you may achieve this result.
DEHYDRATING
I cut the placenta into smaller, thinner pieces for easy and thorough drying. Then I placed the pieces evenly on the trays of the dehydrator- the one I got had 4 or 5 tray levels. Then I put it on the meat setting. This may have actually been too hot, as it turned a dark dark red color. My friend had it done by a doula, and it turned out more of a beige color. If I had to do it over again, I would have probably used a lower setting.
I let it dry overnight.
I had actually considered trying it out as “jerky.” However, it has a peculiar smell and taste similar to organ meats. I would recommend just encapsulating it so you dont have to endure the smell and taste of it.
Once the pieces were adequately dried, (They went from being rubbery to being hard) I then put them into a blender, although a food processor would be good for this. This took some time as the pieces were dense and dry. But eventually, it ground up into fairly small pieces. If you wanted to you could sift it to separate the larget pieces and throw them back into the blender again for a more thorough grind. I got most of it down small enough to pour into capsules. I purchased empty gelatin capsules and a capsule “machine”. Despite this name, its actually not a machine. It is a tray with holes in it that the capsules fit into. You open all the capsules and place the bottom half into one side, and the top half into another. You fill the bottom half with the ground up placenta, and then you mash the tops down onto the bottoms, and eject the filled, complete capsules from the form. I had to do this process quite a few times before using up the ground placenta.
BREWERS YEAST
I bought powdered brewers yeast and made 1/3 as many yeast capsules as placenta capsules, but you may decide to do 50/50, or your own ratio. In retrospect, I think I would have just bought brewers yeast capsules, as encapsulating is a lot of work!
I heard a lot about brewers yeast when I was pregnant and liked the idea of pairing placenta capsules and brewers yeast capsules together for a complete post-partum regimen.
Brewers-yeast is a rich source of chromium, selenium, potassium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and proteins, in addition to the following B vitamins: B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, and B9.
It is good for maintaining healthy eyes, mouth, skin and hair...it supports the immune and nervous systems. It helps regulate blood sugar levels. It also contains microflora that help the digestive system and treat a wide range of digestion maladies. In addition to all these goodies, its particularly beneficial for new mothers in the following ways:
• It increases breast milk supply
• It may increase energy
• It can elevate mood, alleviating "baby blues"
SYNERGISTIC EFFECTS
I took 1 brewers yeast pill and 2 placenta pills every morning. On days when I felt drained or “off” I would increase it to 2 brewers-yeast pills and 3 placenta pills. I experienced a marked increase in energy and productivity, and felt satisfied all morning even if I didnt eat breakfast. I suppose nay-sayers can say the positive effects from placentophagy are psychosomatic, but I believe it really did help me recover both physically and emotionally from childbirth. In fact, not only did I NOT suffer post-partum depression, but my mood seems to be elevated drastically from my pre-pregnancy status. I dont EVER remember being this PERPETUALLY HAPPY! But then, my daughter is the most precious thing to me, so having her in my life may be the cause of that as well!
The way I see it, it is an organ specifically designed to sustain life. So it must have these healthful benefits! I also think that one of the healthful benefits is in the form of stem cells it contains. Ironically, I fear that in the process of dehydration, or cooking, these cells probably become inert. Perhaps if it is dehydrated at a low enough temperature, its possible to retain the integrity of some of these cells.
With minor, if any side effects, and with the possibility of so many health benefits, why not give it a try for yourself. A famous quote that always stuck with me was, "If you have so much to possibly gain, and nothing to lose, why not give it a chance?"
I felt that the whole process was kind of a rite of passage into motherhood. Each stage was a moment of reverence and ritual. I hope that you glean as much enrichment from encapsulating your placenta as I have!
*Here's the list of items you'll need to do this process yourself:
Food Sealer:
I tried FoodSaver first, but that immediately died after a bit of liquid got into it. Nesco seems to be more resilient even though it is around the same price. This is what I used to create the heart /cord keepsake. You may also want to store your placenta for later use...
Dehydrator:
I again used Nesco to dehydrate the pieces of placenta, though you may choose a different model than this...it just seemed the most economical at the time...
Strathmore Drawing Paper:
Large format, durable, thick paper with a nice texture and beautiful presentation to do your "Tree of Life" prints...
Brewer's Yeast
If you are so inclined to make your own brewer's yeast capsules...
If you want to buy brewer's yeast capsules...
Blender/Chopper:
Here is what I used to grind up the placenta:
Capsule Machine and Capsules:
Click Here to both purchase the Capsule Machine and also see easy-to-follow instructions for use.
Click Here to get the empty gelatin capsules.
So when you look at all the supplies, you are spending around $250...which is about what you would have spent if you had gone through a doula. When you look at it this way, hiring a doula to take this on is a bargain, because its like she is working for free. However, when you consider that you get to keep the supplies for future use, then its also a worthwhile investment to do it yourself.
Either way you approach it, its a win/win for you and baby. I would highly recommend you at least look into these projects further so you can make an informed decision if you are soon having a child.
