it's not as gross as it sounds

advisory...somewhat graphic photos below

You may or may not know that I consumed my placenta after Virginia's birth. This knowledge may or may not gross you out. But I wanted to share with you my experience, if you so choose to read on.

All along my journey through motherhood, I'll hear about something and dismiss it as weird or gross. Cloth diapering... what, people still do that? Mama cloth...eww, never! Homebirth...wait you mean, like, not at the hospital? Delayed/selective vaxing... whats wrong with the regular schedule? So when I first heard about placenta encapsulation, my first reaction was, that is WAY out there, I'll never do that. But like in every other situation, I am an information junkie. When I hear about something, I want to know what it is. I research. Along with the plethora of information I find on the internet, much of my research comes from my darling online community called Diaper Swappers, where I can find women who have done pretty much every kind of parenting there is. Granted this is not the most scientific source, but it is testimony of really mothers doing real things, and I find that to be invaluable.

Anyway, by the time I was big and heavy with Virginia, I had read all about the benefits of placenta consumption, how to do it, and who to call if I don't want to do it myself. But I still wasn't planning on it. One of the primary benefits is to balance out hormones and prevent postpartum depression, which has never been a problem in the past so I didn't expect it to be an issue this time. After the birth we put the placenta in the freezer, unwilling to throw it out but unsure what we were going to do with it. Two weeks out I was an emotional wreck, and like all those other things I thought were weird, I found myself contemplating something that I thought I'd never do. I decided to encapsulate my placenta (which is the act of turning my placenta into little pills that I can take). Ideally this is done the day of the birth, but I knew I'd still get lots of benefits from it. So I enlisted a birthy friend's help and a week later got to work. Below is a summary of the process:

Here's my placenta, rinsed and ready to cook!

Steaming. This did NOT smell good!

Cut up and ready to dehydrate. And yes, that heart is the umbilical cord. I proudly wave my freak flag.

Dried and powdered, filling the pills.

The finished product. I made about 60 pills, but still have a lot of the powder left to make more when I run out.

So here I am two months later--a cloth diapering, mama cloth wearing, homebirthing, delayed vaxing, placenta-eating mama. I am still taking my placenta pills. Did it help? Well I don't know for sure whether it was time, activity, or the pills that healed my wounds (or a combo of all), but I can tell you that I started feeling better about the time I started taking them.