The first time I ever really gave the placenta any thought was when I watched our goat Bree give birth. It was the first birth I had ever watched. Birth had never been a big part of my life before then. Experiencing it for the first time, I was completely fascinated.
Bree had triplets with her first kidding, licked them clean, and as soon as she passed the placenta- she started eating it. No one had told her to do this. She just knew.
I watched her silently as the rays of morning light shone down on her and her babies. Everything about birth was overwhelmingly beautiful to me, even watching her eat her placenta off the fresh, golden straw.
Last spring, when she gave birth for the second time (that time twins), she ate her placenta again. She focused on what she was doing intently, like it was the most important thing in the world. I watched her devour every last speck of it and I thought ‘This is one wise mama. I would be wise to follow her example.’
Animals eat their placenta after birth. Animals continue to follow wisdom that humans have lost. I am sure indigenous people knew the benefits of eating the placenta after birth and somewhere along the line people forgot. We’ve become far removed from our roots in many ways, but when we observe nature and get back in tune with it we can connect with that wisdom once again.
After Bracken’s birth, my placenta went in our refrigerator. When we woke up the next morning, Jeff took the bowl of blood from the birth and buried it by the roots of our family blueberry plant. Then he took the placenta out of the fridge, chopped it up, steamed it, and put it in our food dehydrator. When it was completely dry, he pulverized it in our mixer and put it in capsules. He brought me a small glass container of these and set them next to the bed.
I took them all and felt their healing magic on my body. Each day I took however many I felt I needed. I wasn’t worried about taking too many because animals eat the whole thing in one go.
I was grateful for the nourishment it gave Bracken throughout the pregnancy, then the nourishment it gave both of us after the birth, and the healing it gave me. I was grateful to have a husband who happily prepared it for us. Jeff felt the same way about the importance of the placenta that I did and he didn’t want to pay someone else to encapsulate it for us (they charge a lot.)
There is a lot of information on the benefits of placenta encapsulation if you are curious about it. I didn’t need to be told all the reasons for doing it because I just knew. I knew that it felt right to me and I followed that feeling. I am very glad I did.
To all you pregnant mamas out there- have you ever thought about encapsulating your placenta after the birth?
I highly encourage it!
Thank you so much Angel. I really enjoyed receiving your comment.
Taryn, this is the first time I have ever heard of this. I must admit on one hand I was horrified and completely shocked, and on the other, I found it to be beautiful and completely natural. I am intrigued and searched more, then returned to read more on your site. I’m not an expectant mother so I don’t think I’ll be looking into it, but I have learned something amazing by visiting your blog. I’m looking forward to reading more about your life.
Thanks for the link. I might try eating some raw next time.
Glad to hear you are planning on encapsulating your placenta with your next child. It makes me so happy to hear mamas doing this!
i planned on encapsulating my placenta with my son. but i developed an infection during labor (which i’m convinced was caused by a pelvic exam during labor), and had to dispose of it after the birth.
with my next child, i plan on having zero pelvic exams during labor, and will save the placenta. my postpartum hormones were fabulous for the first 2 or 3 months. then i felt a huge shift around 3 months where i really wished i had some of my placental hormones to help nourish and lift me.
a good friend of mine consumed her placenta raw after childbirth:
http://pullingdaisies.blogspot.com/2008/08/worlds-finest-delicacy.html
Sara- Really good question. The reason we did it that way is because those were the instructions we were given by midwives.
Nicole- So glad to hear you’re working towards being a postpartum doula! how wonderful! Placenta Encapsulation would be a wonderful service to offer! 🙂
I am working my way toward becoming a postpartum doula, and have considered offering placenta encapsulation as a service. I believe there are some strange laws surrounding it though, which is really unfortunate (perhaps that only applies to hospitals, birthing centers, etc). I know several new mamas who were helped because of it. I also know of others who prepared it and never used it, but felt more confident knowing it was there should they need it. I really love the idea of doing something meaningful with the placenta.
this is interesting. I wonder why you steamed it first instead of dehydrating it raw? With the placenta of our first child, we just planted it. With our second, we did a lotus birth, which is where you wait for the placenta to separate from the child naturally. With our third, we started out with a lotus birth, but had to sever the cord after two days because of medical problems initially after birth (which have thankfully been resolved). So anyway, have never tried taking it for myself.