I am going to a do a few posts about what has been the most helpful for this tricky postpartum time. Everything from vitamins to underwear! Here we go with the first installment and, arguably, the most important one!
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With my first pregnancy I hadn’t heard of Placenta Encapsulation. I planned to plant my placenta under a tree at my parents house but because of the infection that Nolie and I both had during labor the hospital took my placenta and wouldn’t give it back… I was bummed but didn’t think to much about it.
Fresh from the tub!
I didn’t have PPD but I did struggle with extreme fatigue and some serious mood swings. Everything felt SO huge in each moment, I felt out of control and like I couldn’t grasp what reality was- just whatever I was feeling in that very moment. I heard about Placenta Encapsulation when Nolie was about a year old and I was intrigued. It seemed a little gross to me at the time but I filed it away to think about when we were pregnant again.
I started hearing about it everywhere… Friends of mine were doing it, Anderson Cooper was talking about it and even January Jones was taking her placenta pills. I began to research. Here is an overview (and a great web resource) of the benefits. Here is a list of the known ingredients in Placenta that have healing properties.
Gonadotrophin: the precursor to estrogen, progesterone and testosterone,
Prolactin: promotes lactation,
Oxytocin: for pain and bonding; produced during breastfeeding to facilitate bonding of mother and infant. In pharmaceutical form this is a very addictive drug because it promotes a feeling of connectedness with others,
Thyroid stimulating hormone: boosts energy and helps recovery from stressful events,
Cortisone: combats stress and unlocks energy stores,
Interferon: stimulates the immune system to protect against infections,
Prostaglandins: anti-inflammatory,
Hemoglobin: replenishes iron deficiency and anemia, a common postpartum condition,
Urokinase inhibiting factor and factor XIII: stops bleeding and enhances wound healing,
Gammaglobulin: immune booster that helps protect against postpartum infections.
Source
With all the research in favor and my desire to boost my energy and stay more even keeled this time around, we went for it.
getting a closer look
We chose to have my placenta encapsulated at our home, I am too interested in the whole process to send it away! Doula David encapsulated for us and talked us through each step and let Nolie help out too. It was a whole family experience and so interesting. Placentas are beautiful!
For me the benefits have been obvious- I am far less tired than I was after having Nolie. Despite having an active 2.5 year old to care for too and a 6 week old who nurses every 20min when she is awake and tandem nursing. I feel more stable in my day to day. I am far more able to look at a situation and feel calm and rational (it isn’t the end of the world when Nolie pours milk on the floor or dumps rice on the rug). Also my milk supply has been awesome and came in really quickly. I can feel a huge difference in my countenance and milk on the days that I take my placenta pills vs. the days that I forget.
Here is a little bit of the process in photos…
Separating the membrane from the placenta.
slicing it up, getting ready to dehydrate
all ready to be dehydrated
done dehydrating!
Getting filled into my bubble gum flavored capsules!
I will be doing this for any future births, for sure. This is my number one Postpartum tip. Look into this if you are pregnant, the costs vary from city to city it seems. In our town it is pretty affordable and seems worth every penny. I also encourage you to put the “gross out” factor aside and have it done in your own home. Knowing the process and seeing that organ in action is pretty incredible. I felt some measure of pride in seeing it and knowing that it sustained my sweet girl for her whole in womb life. My placenta yielded 182 pills and I take somewhere between 3-6 pills a day depending on how I am feeling ( I start with three each morning and take more if I am dragging).
If you have any questions feel free to email me (autumnmeyer25@gmail.com) or put it in the comments section. If there are lots I will do a FAQ post as a follow up- do your research, this is worth it!
That is fascinating i am so glad you sharred this. I planted our placenta with a cedar tree we had at our wedding. But, i would love to try this next time. Did it seem to difficult for someone to maybe execute on their own?
Thank you for sharing this! I’m contemplating doing it for #2 (whenever that happens!)
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awesome! i am definitely planning on doing this with this baby and i think i have found a super affordable gal to do it! i had serious mood swings after my last so my hubs will be happy to hear it is ever MORE worth the money then we thought!
Sara-
It is totally do-able on your own…as long as you own a dehydrator and have a grinder you could devote to it (I’d recommend picking a new one up just for the purpose…you can get them cheap and still not spend as much as having someone else do it for you). The empty pills are really inexpensive…a pill filler is helpful but not necessary. I helped with one last week and we filled by hand, took longer but not impossible.
I’m having a baby in the fall and plan on doing my own with a friend of mine…it should be done in the first few days after birth so my friend will be steaming and dehydrating for me right away…I’ll just help fill pills later
Good luck! I have seen it make a marked difference in the friends who have used this method so I’m looking forward to trying it!
Thanks for posting all the photos too Autumn! very cool. I’m excited to trying the post birth placenta smoothie too…though for most the gross out factor on that one is just too high…;-)
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Wow! Thanks for sharing this Autumn. I will definitely look into this if I ever have a baby.
I was searching for this and encountered your blog, I am researching this and I am thinking of doing this for this pregnancy. I see how effective it was for you, I hope I can find someone to do this for me really soon (due in two weeks)
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