I ate my Placenta and I'm not a cannibal

When I decided to have a second child, I knew that I was going to eat my placenta. I had read about placenta encapsulation and I decided that I would do it for my second birth. Placenta encapsulation, is the method of taking the placenta and encapsulating it into a pill form. You then ingest the pills and reap tons of benefits. My main reasons for going this route was to avoid PPD and increase milk production.

The Placenta after birth

When you tell people your plans for warding off PPD (post partum depression) by eating your own placenta, you usually get horrified reactions. Then you explain that you're not eating it like a steak dinner, but putting it into a pill. Some people say, yeah that's not too bad, others are still super grossed out. My next question to them is, "What's worse, killing yourself and maybe the baby or eating your placenta?" Usually I get silence after that question. However, I prefer that rather than the judgemental statements. I don't think people really understand the seriousness of PPD. There's a big difference, in the baby blues you get right after you have the baby as opposed to PPD.



Shelley prepping the placenta for encapsulation

After getting PPD with the first baby, I really didn't want to go through it again. Once you have PPD, the recurrence for getting it with your next birth(s) increases. I was already at risk for getting it again. I wanted to stave off the risk.  I didn't take any drugs with Logan because of breastfeeding. I certainly wasn't going to take drugs the second time around. For people who have never had PPD, it's hard for them to grasp how terrible it is. Imagine giving birth to a baby and not really caring. Plus, all the crying and feeling miserable. I hate crying. I wanted to do everything to avoid PPD, in a natural way. Another big reason for doing placenta encapsulation, was for the increase in milk production.

My milk came in after a week of giving birth to Logan, which is a little late. I believe it was due to the c-section and the lack of support I got in the hospital towards breastfeeding.





Look at those veins! Atticus got a lot of nutrients!!

For some reason, I got the pro-formula nurses at Women and Infants. I only had one or two nurses that actually helped teach me how to breastfeed. The other ones kept pushing me towards formula and pretty much forcing me to use it. One nurse told me that I had to stop "controlling the situation" and I would be fine. I wanted to punch her in the face, but I was too depressed.
Whenever I tell people this, they always say their nurses at W&I were pro-breastfeeding. I have no idea why the experience was different for me. Perhaps because I was there for 5 days where most people are there for 2 days? That would increase my chances of getting different nurses.

I finally saw a lactation consultant the day after we got discharged from the hospital. Everything else was taken away from me during the birth. I was determined to at least breastfeed. After seeing the lactation consultant the milk came in and I breastfed easily.


Draining the blood from the placenta

I did not want to go through this again with Atticus. If eating my placenta increased milk production and warded off PPD, then my placenta was going to be eaten.

When we decided to do the home birth, the midwife was going to do the encapsulation. However, she had "weird feelings" about the birth and referred us to Memorial Hospital. After she did that I had to find a placenta encapsulate(r). My doula, Jess Fuss had added me to the RI Home birth page of facebook. It was through there that I found Shelley Harvey. I emailed her to let her know about the upcoming birth. She emailed me, quickly, with the paperwork. I was relieved that I found another placenta encapsulate(r).




Deflated placenta

Before the birth, I told Dr. Magee that I was going to encapsulate my placenta. She said a lot of people take their placentas home at Memorial. I added that notation on my birth plan and made my nurse Ashley aware.

The placenta is stored in a section of the hospital after birth. When you are discharged, then you collect it. Since I was discharged on the weekend, they told the resident that we had to come pick it up on Monday. When you encapsulate the placenta, it needs to be done as quickly as possible. I was freaking out that we would have to wait that long.

The inside of the placenta

The resident said she would talk to Dr. Magee to see what could be done. About 30 minutes later, Dr. Magee came in with the placenta. She said, "I just took it, it's ridiculous that you would have to come back for it." Dr. Magee is bad ass. If you want a doctor that is very patient focused, super smart, and awesome I recommend Dr. Magee.

We called Shelley to tell her when we would be home. She came early the next morning and started the process of encapsulation.



Steaming the placenta with ginger

While she was working on the placenta, Tim and I sat and watched. It was a pretty fascinating process. We had great conversations about child birth with Shelley and learned a lot of new things.

Watching the process of encapsulation, was a great way to understand the choice I made. I can handle a lot of gory things, but I did have some lingering hesitations.

Side note: When my grandpa cut his finger off with an electric table saw, I was the person that went back to get the finger. Afterwards, my Aunt Susan and I were the ones who went back to clean the mess. I didn't want my Aunt Susan to clean the saw blade. I thought it would be too horrific for her because that's her Dad. I thought, since I was his granddaughter, I could disengage myself more easily than she would be able to.  Let's just say the saw blade was not...pretty.



Steamed placenta

Since I was able to handle (un)pretty things, I thought that eating my placenta would be easy. Honestly, the smell of steaming placenta was not pleasant. I kept focusing on the ginger smell to keep my mind off it. Tim, and I joked about how the placenta looked like a side of beef.

I wasn't overjoyed about the aspect of eating the placenta. I was focusing on the positive benefits that I and Atticus would receive. I can understand why people would be disgusted by the thought. However, going through PPD is a lot worse than eating your placenta in a pill format.


Once the placenta is cleaned and steamed, it is put into a dehydrator overnight...similar to how you make beef jerky.

The dehydrator

Shelley came back the next morning to finish the process. When Shelley came back the next morning, I was taking a nap with Atticus. Tim let her in and watched Logan so that I could finally get some sleep.

After the placenta has been dehydrated, it is grounded into powder, then put into pill capsules. Shelley left me a note with instructions. She told Tim that if I was feeling sick, to not ingest any of the pills. Also, that I should only drink water to swallow the pills. This is according to the belief of the Traditional Chinese Method of Encapsulation. Shelley used this method to prepare my placenta for consumption.

The placenta has been encapsulated!
 

I remember telling our pediatrician, Dr. McGonigle, that I had encapsulated the placenta. He was happy that I chose to do that. Then he asked Tim if he had taken any (remember we go to a "hippie" doctor). Before Tim could answer, I said," No way, they're mine!" I did let Tim take some. He said that he felt super energized that day.

I was able to enjoy the benefits of encapsulation. I avoided the baby blues and PPD. Milk production has not been an issue for me. It is a little hard for me to swallow the pills sometimes. They are starting to taste iron(y). I chug them down with water to avoid the taste. I stopped taking them after a month and half. I was feeling awesome. I wanted to save them for really tough days. Then my grandpa passed away on February 27th.

This is the cord shaped into a heart

When my grandpa passed away, I started feeling down again. I am planning to start taking them again soon. I want to make sure the death of my grandpa doesn't give PPD an excuse to come back. It's been rough, emotionally, dealing with his death, the adjustment of having one child, and increasing that number. It is getting easier.

I am glad that I made the decision to encapsulate my placenta. It has really helped me recover from childbirth. If I ever get pregnant again, I will not hesitate to encapsulate that placenta.