Placenta Encapsulation

I had my placenta encapsulated (dehydrated and made into pills) after the birth. It may seem like a weird practice, even I thought it was when I first heard of it just shortly after getting pregnant. The more I learned, though, the more it made sense.

Here is an excerpt from mommyfeelgood.com

"I first learned of mother’s ingesting their placenta as a supplement after childbirth while in school for Traditional Chinese Medicine. This has been in practice in China and many cultures for thousands of years. Almost every mammal ingests their own placenta after the birth, sometimes even ignoring the young until the placenta has been completely ingested.
Traditional Chinese Medicine has used placenta for thousands of years to augment the qi (energy), nourish the blood, and augment the kidney essence. In layman’s terms, it brings the body back into balance, replenishing what was lost during childbirth. In China it is also used for debilitating chronic diseases and widely used as an anti-aging treatment, as well as a variety of other ills, including fatigue and insufficient lactation.
In many cultures the placenta is considered the tree of life, and indeed, without it life would not be possible."

The article goes on to say:

Traditionally, placenta capsules have been used to help:

· Balance your hormones
· Increase milk supply
· Combat Fatigue
· Increase your energy
· Prevent signs of aging
· Recover more quickly from childbirth
· Replenish what was lost during childbirth
· Bring the body back into balance
· Prevent and treat the “baby blues”
· Shorten postnatal bleeding time
· Increase postnatal iron levels

Studies show that placenta is extremely nutrient rich, high in iron, protein, vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B6 and of course, your own natural hormones, making it perfectly made for you, by you. Experts agree that the placenta retains hormones, and thus reintroducing them to your system may ease hormonal fluctuations.

I wanted to post about it b/c I think it's an awesome and worthwhile practice and I'm so glad I did it. Basically, after I birthed the placenta in the hospital, I let the staff know I wanted to keep it and I signed a release and they let me keep it on ice while we were there for 2 days. The midwife came to get it the morning of our second day there, and dropped this lovely package off at our home 2 days later. :-) She even made a nice heart shaped keepsake out of the umbilical cord. 

From those I have spoken with, this generally runs between $200-$300. It's hard to say how much it has helped me b/c I don't really have a point of reference to compare this experience with. I will say that the first 2 weeks post partum, my mood was pretty low and I was very emotional. I had a lot of tender/vulnerable/sad emotions and it was kind of rough. I have been taking the placenta pills daily and the past 4 days I have felt just more stable in my mood, which is a really good thing.

Every Mom has to make her own choices about what is right for her, for me, taking my placenta has been a good experience and I really like the idea of it. Glad we were able to have this done and grateful to my mid wife! We have met a lot of people on this journey who are very passionate about pregnancy and child birth and the passion is contagious!