Back On Track: Placenta Power!
April 13, 2009 by La Mama Naturale'
Filed under birth, health, placenta
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Hola! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Tristan had a blast hunting for eggs this year. It will be so neat to watch them both one day. On Saturday, we visited my grandparents. My grandma is in a private hospital facility receiving therapy for her back injury.. She broke her back twice (lower and upper) in 2 months time. She’s doing well actually and was in good spirits. We ate lunch together and it turned out to be a lovely visit. I also brought home freshly picked lemons from their backyard. Oh boy!! We made lemonade and oatmeal cranberry chocolate chip cookies for Easter.
BTW- Clark is named after my Grandpa: Joseph Clark
I’m doing my best to get back on track. What a great 10 or so days it’s been. It’s gone by FAST. I think I’m at the point where it feels manageable. Even though, I know there WILL BE phases and transitions ahead. So far, Clark has been a good sleeper and eater. He observes and tracks objects when he’s awake. He’s even cracked a few smiles for us. He’s stretching out and learning about the new world around him daily. I’m suprised at how well he’s adapted to our routine. I’ve been co-sleeping with him from the start and can’t believe how easy it makes our lives. He sleeps in his moses basket for the first couple hours of the evening then I take him into bed with me. The four of us rest easy together.
We have an Arms Reach co-sleeper we used with Tristan and it’s set up so that I can eventually place him in there. For now, I’m just enjoying this soft, sweet, precious time. I just gaze at him endlessly and try to bottle up his smell and photograph the cute little faces he makes into my brain.
It’s amazing what having a baby will do to you- emotionally, physically and mentally…the sweet joys of new life – I’m loven’ it! I feel like it’s brought a balance to our family dynamics.
Anyway, with all the hormones engaging in my body from pregnancy to birth and beyond…
I chose to dehydrate my placenta! I did this with Tristan’s placenta. I feel like many the benefits you receive from ingesting the placenta are completely worth the cost. It’s a bit pricey. I felt like my energy was restored and overall I was always in a great mood.
Some people are a little grossed out on the idea of it.
I say- Waste Not, Want Not- Why not!!!!!! 
It goes right down my throat and I don’t taste a thing. Hey, they’re worse things that can be ingested – at least this one provides health benefits unlike your typical McDonald’s hamburger…now that’s gross in my opinion!
I digress.
I’m fortunate enough that my midwife has done this process for years now which allows me to have such a wonderful opportunity! I received it a few days after birth. I take 1 pill 3x a day – I store the jar in the freezer. My placenta made 280 pills…my midwife said it was the biggest placenta she’s dehydrated!
Placenta has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years. It is considered one of the most powerful qi tonics and nourishes the medians of the lungs, liver, and kidney’s during pregnancy. Especially helpful postpartum due to the added stresses placed on the kidneys during pregnancy.
Benefits: (For recovery postpartum) energy levels are up, feelings of strength and overall well being, strengthened immune system, restored sex drive, increased milk supply, emotional balancing, restores hemoglobin levels back to normal.
Would you ingest your placenta for it’s great benefits?
Stacey on Mon, 13th Apr 2009 8:34 pm
I dont think (or rather I know) that I couldnt cook and eat my placenta. I think that this dehydrated pill form would be the only way I could do it. I didnt even know it was an option until now. Thanks for sharing.
Marianna on Mon, 13th Apr 2009 11:04 pm
Glad to hear things are going well! I had no idea your placenta could be made into pills. Very interesting. Could I do it? In pill form, yes I think I could if we could afford it (which I don’t think we can).
Thanks for sharing!
Kaycee on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 12:41 am
Wow, Im a doula and in school to be a midwife and I have never heard of this! Would you mind sharing the cost?
flowers on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 12:43 am
I have attended births (as a doula) where the women ate the placenta (a piece put into a smoothie) or had it dehydrated. Wonderful medicine for mamas, especially if there has been a lot of bleeding.
I chose to have a lotus birth where we left baby attached to the placenta until it fell away. It was a wonderful transition.
Danielle on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 12:45 am
I think I coud do it in pill form. i googled it after you mentioned it last time and saw how it is done. I almost lost my lunch-so i think ( I KNOW) I would need someone else to do it for me-which i don’t have right now. Ut would prob. help me since last time I had a bit of PPD. and stop bragging about your large healthy placenta! Just kiddng! i am so happy you are doing so well. I have been thinming about you and your family? Do you love the moses basket? I am thining of getting one but I am not sure. Do you all sleep in the bed? I am worried about what to do when baby srrives because E still sleeps with us.
Tatiana on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 12:48 am
Dehydrated as a pill? Yes, I could do it. Interesting thought.
Jill, The Veggie Queen on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 1:06 am
Glad to hear that you are doing what it takes to get back to life. And it all sounds good.
Pam on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 1:22 am
Wow- I didn’t even know that was an option. I think the pill form is the only way I could do it- just feel like I’m taking a vitamin. But any other way would be hard for me. I don’t know what I would have done- but I wish I would have know it was an option. I was so tired and worn out- I was stressed beyond belief after the birth of m 2nd- after I read all your benefits, I wished I could have tried it. It might have made my transition easier. I’m glad to hear things went well for you!
Jeanne on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 2:25 am
Good tips on bouncing back after childbirth. I’m intrigued by the placenta idea, but not sure I’ll follow thru when I have my #2.
I’ll need to take advantage of your other advice very soon for the birth of my next baby! Congrats to you and your family. There is nothing more exciting than welcoming a new life! That’s livin’!
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Rachel @ Growing Sage on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 2:42 am
I had my placenta encapsulated when my son was born 5.5 months ago! Not a single hint of baby blues or PPD for me. (Per prior comment, I paid $30 for the encapsulation but I cooked the placenta at home.) So glad to see someone else do it!
crunchy domestic goddess (amy) on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 3:44 am
good for you.
my midwife dehydrated and encapsulated mine as well. did she tell you to take it until it’s gone? mine had me take mine for 2 wks i think then said i could take more in times of transition or give it to julian in times of transition. i think i took some again a while ago, but have never given any to julian. i also just store mine in the jar on a shelf, but have often wondered if it’d be better in the freezer. sort of too late for that now. 
love the pics.
Wendy on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 8:05 am
Love the picture of the boys with your father… something about the interconnection of the generations!
I am so glad you are all doing so well!
Jen on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 3:03 pm
I am so glad you are doing well. I would definitely ingest my placenta for health benefits.
Jodi Selander on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 10:16 pm
Placenta is incredibly beneficial for postpartum recovery, and I appreciate you getting the word out about. I’m glad you decided to do it, and that you feel it helped you.
I just wanted to point out the website PlacentaBenefits.info in case people are interested in learning more about the option.
Blessings, mama!
Sierra on Thu, 16th Apr 2009 4:43 am
Wow. Congrats on the beautiful baby. I had never heard of dehydrating a placenta and taking it in pill form. I wish I’d known about that when I had my babies.
La Mama Naturale' on Mon, 27th Apr 2009 5:37 pm
Danielle, We love our Mose’s basket. We didn’t use it as Tristan’s primary sleeping place but with Clark we use as his main place to rest. We found a sheepskin pelt at Costco of all places that fits perfectly into it and we put the pelt inside the basket and laid an organic cotton blanket over it. Clark snuggles right in and it’s kushy. At night, Clark sleeps in the Moses basket for the first part of the night and when he wakes up at 1 or 2 AM to nurse we all sleep together. It’s really nice. I slept with Clark in the bed from the start and it works for us. E will adapt.
Kaycee- It was $250 for 280 pills. \
Amy, Yeah, I’m supposed to take them until their gone. I want to say she bases her prescription for them from woman to woman depending on their symptoms.
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