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.

Cesarean Birth Story

It's been almost three weeks since I gave birth to my second baby Atticus Finn. The birth of my second child is a complete 180 compared to the birth of Logan. I'm going to share both experiences for those contemplating a natural drug free birth and for those that are going to have a cesarean/c-section.

Logan

When I was pregnant with my Logan I was wafting between getting an epidural or avoiding one. At the time I met my friend Keri at work and she was also pregnant. She wanted a completely natural zero intervention birth. She recommended that I watch "The Business of Being Born" to gather more information. Tim and I watched it; our opinion of child birth changed. I decided that I wanted to have a natural child birth.

I started reading more books to prepare myself. I read Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth and Birthing from Within. I rewatched "The Business of Being Born" to gear myself for the upcoming birth. I also watched a Baby Story on TLC and was enraged by a lot of what was happening during these births. I didn't want the pitocin, epidural, c-section cycle that most hospitals seemed to recommend.

I switched over to a midwife/obgyn practice so that I could have a midwife and a better chance at a natural birth.

To show how crazy it's been with 2 kids it's been almost 2 more weeks since I wrote the above paragraphs. Between making sure the toddler doesn't do something nuts and having the baby attached to the boob it's been busy. So to continue where I left off...

With Logan's birth, after switching to a midwife group I was determined to have a natural birth. In the book Birthing from Within they recommend holding an ice cube in your hand and try different coping mechanisms. The pain of child birth is nothing like holding an ice cube, but the point of the exercise is to find a coping mechanism to deal with discomfort. You were supposed to hold the ice cube for 30 seconds to 1 minute at a time and find a coping mechanism.

I would hold on to that ice cube for 10 minutes thinking, "I got this".



See the cut on his face?

I was amped that I would be able to handle natural childbirth. Then Logan's due date came around, but no Logan. A week and 6 days later the midwive's told me I had low amniotic fluid and I needed to be induced. That was a downer. I had a feeling I was going to fall into the pit, epi, csection cycle. I later found out that low amniotic fluid is a myth.

On March 8th, straight from my appointment, they told me to check into the hospital immediately. They would use cervadil to soften the cervix. I was given a sleeping pill because the next day would be really hard. Yeah that sleeping pill was useless.

The next day around 5 am I called my doula Jessica Fuss and we started trying to induce labor naturally. I started walking laps around the hospital floor. My midwife on call was willing to let me delay the pitocin for an hour to get natural labor started. It didn't work so we went to the l&d floor. At Women & Infants they have an ABC unit. Which is the alternative birthing unit for people who want a "natural hospital" birth. I had planned to go there, but because I was getting induced I couldn't. They were nice enough to give a huge room with my own shower to mimic the ABC.

I had a fantastic nurse who took my birth plan and wasn't offended. She tried to fulfill my wishes, but things just didn't go my way.

I had to have continuous monitoring because when they first put the monitor on me, Logan's heart rate dipped. The problem with that, was his heart rate could only be read if I was lying flat on my back. That was fine for the first 6cm of dilation however, once I got to 7cm it was hard to just lay on my back and not move. Have you ever tried to labor naturally without moving? Not that easy.

I kept having to get up to pee and they had to keep readjusting the monitor. I threw up a couple of times. I started shaking like I was having seizures. It basically sucked.

So finally after hours of pain and not being able to move I got the epidural at 9cms. I fell asleep for a little bit and stopped progressing. Logan was sunny side up and my cervix was anterior. Then I started feeling enormous pressure and the epidural was useless at that point.

Finally they decided that I should get the csection. I was so upset and defeated at that point. Everything on my birth plan was completely wasted. The only thing I got to do was wear my own nightgown during the surgery. Yippee.

I remember thinking, "This is like a really shitty episode of Grey's Anatomy, I better not fucking die." I was shaking the whole way down to the operating room where they wheeled me in. Tons of people were in the room already, but I requested that only people that needed to be in there were in there. I said no to students. I was already pissed about getting a csection. I didn't feel like having students view my innards.

Tim came in and he was worried that I was having seizures because I was convulsing on the table. The anesthesiologist assured him that that was normal. My arms felt dead and they were strapped down. The lights were super bright and I could only stare at the ceiling. Tim kept trying to talk to me, but I just tuned him out. I think the depression was already setting in. I already felt like a huge failure because I couldn't birth the way that I had imagined.

When they brought Logan over the cloth wall to my face to see him, I really didn't care at that point. I do remember telling Tim to get away from me and to stay with Logan. Every time Tim hovered over me, I told him to go away and focus on Logan.

Finally, they took Logan to the room and I told Tim to go with them. I stayed behind to get my organs put into place and stitched up.

Logan meeting Daddy for the first time

When we were in the recovery room Tim was arguing with the nurse about putting erythromycin in Logan's eyes. Another thing on my birth plan that the new nurse ignored. Then they kept trying to get me to hold Logan. I was nervous because my arms still felt dead and I didn't want to drop him. I also didn't really have any interest in holding him.

It wasn't until we moved up to the recovery floor that I noticed the big cut on Logan's face. Tim was trying to keep it quiet so that I wouldn't be more upset. During the csection his cheek was cut open by the scalpel. Our nurse kept downplaying it, but my midwife finally stepped in and said he needed stitches. The plastic surgeon came in and put stitches in his face. She told us that he was the youngest patient she ever worked on...he was 3 hours old at that time.