I think that this past pregnancy has officially pushed me over the edge from oatmeal to granola.
After my first pregnancy, my post partum days were filled with anxiety and the baby blues. Pretty typical of a first time mom. However, around the five month mark, post partum, I found myself undeniably in the throes of post partum depression. During this past pregnancy with my second, I was determined to try some more natural approaches to have a mentally healthy post partum period and to do what I could to minimize my risk of post partum depression (re-occurrence is high).
My research led me to placenta consumption. I'll let you take a sip of water, in case you accidentally gagged. I decided to go for it. I put in my birth plan that I wanted the placenta and that I would not consent to it leaving my eye sight. I got my obstetrician on board (note: if you have a home birth or a birth center birth, you are less likely to have any issues). When I went to the hospital, I told them I was taking it and whatever department "has" to look at it can either hall their butt out of the basement, or I'd sign a release. Fortunately, I had no issues.
The day after I got home, I washed, blotted dry, and cut the placenta into thin strips. I'll be honest it was gross cutting away the remnants of the amniotic sack (or what I assume is the amniotic sac) and the umbilical cord. I then put in the dehydrator and let it go over night. There are other ways to prepare it. For instance, traditional Chinese medicine first has the preparer boil the placenta with a pepper.
At any rate, after it dried, I ground up a few pieces of my placenta "jerky" and put it into gelatin capsules that I got from my local health food store. And I started to take it. I was lazy one day and decided to put a small piece of "jerky" into a fruit smoothie. I won't be doing that again. It doesn't taste very appetizing. However, adding a banana did make the smoothie drinkable.
There are a variety of options for placenta consumption. Mothering has several recipes to cook it (I'll post a link at the bottom). There are services available where people will prepare it for you. Some midwives and doulas will do it. Or you can do it yourself. The most labor intensive part of it is the grinding.
In addition to the placenta therapy, which does help an awful lot, I have also started taking St. John's Wort and if I feel anxious, I take one skull cap supplement. These interventions seem to be helping me make this post partum period a bit easier to handle. I'll be honest that I still have the baby blues, but no where near to the extent I had with my first pregnancy.
If you're interested in hearing more, check out these links:
http://placentabenefits.info/encapsulation.asp
http://www.geocities.com/virtualbirth/placenta.html
http://www.mothering.com/articles/pregnancy_birth/birth_preparation/honoring-the-placenta.html
http://www.mothering.com/articles/pregnancy_birth/birth_preparation/amazing_placenta_side.html
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2 comments:
Glad to see I'm not the only crazy mama who took a bite outta her placenta ;) I popped a placenta pill whether I was feeling a li'l down and they worked like a charm. I barely used what I dehydrated (the membranes and chord I buried with my girlie's Juniper tree) but I keep it around for those days I need a little mood boost.
As a vegan who hasn't see raw meat in 3+ years, I thought the process would gross me out but the bio nerd in me found it enjoyable. It was neat getting to hold and deconstruct the thing that housed and sustained my babe for 9 months!
I'm pregnant with my 3rd baby and have already decided to consume my placenta through encapsulation. I really wish that I would have known about this with my other 2 babies! Anyone just hearing about this-don't rush to judgement! Do your own research and you'll find that it's not so taboo after all, and that it's actually qutie amazing!
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