Oh yes I did… I ate my placenta!

Yes, the title of this post is true: I ate my own placenta. Crazy and gross, you think? Well, I am here to tell you all about it – and why it’s not.

My sweet baby boy Braylen was born May 10th, and is now a beautiful 12 weeks old. He is totally the light of mine and my hubby’s life. His birth story was incredible, and my post-partum period was amazing. Being a first-time mom, I wanted to be as prepared as possible for my birth, and everything after. I used Hypnobabies in order to have a great natural birth, and I studied anything and everything I could get my hands on for labor, delivery, and the newborn stage.

One thing I know about myself is that I am an emotional person. I cry easily, usually happy tears. 🙂 I also don’t function that great on little sleep, so the thought of being up at all times in the night terrified me. I wanted to do anything and everything I could to help prepare my mind and body for bringing this baby in to the world, and the weeks after. I had heard from a few friends about eating your placenta. At first I thought no way, but then I started to read more about it. Here are some of the main benefits of consuming your placenta, highlighted from this site:

• Help to balance your hormones
• Replenish depleted iron levels
• Assist the uterus to return to its pre-pregnancy state
• Reduce post-natal bleeding
• Increase milk production – this has been proven in a study
• Make for a happier, more enjoyable post-natal period
• Increase your energy levels

Now reading all of those things, how could you not be at least interested?! I got incredibly lucky and have a great friend, Shanda, who is knowledgable with preparing placentas, and she prepared mine. My doula Briana was awesome and brought my placenta {don’t worry- it was in a big plastic bin that the hospital provided} to my girlfriend’s house that night. She then separated and cleaned it, and froze it for me in to about 10 portions in ziploc bags. She also made me a smoothie the next day with a portion of it, and my other great girlfriend brought the smoothie for me to the hospital, that way I got it in my system within 24 hours.

Here is how I feel it personally affected me:

• I never have had issues with my milk. Actually, the only ‘issue’ I have had is over-production. My milk came in within 48 hours of delivery. Braylen was 4oz OVER his birth weight at 8 days old. And now, well now I have over 125 bags of at least 5oz of milk frozen, with only pumping once a day.
• I had completely stopped bleeding at two weeks. I started again for two days when I went on a long walk, but then immediately stopped once I actually took it easy like the doctors said to do. 🙂 Keep in mind, I also had torn, almost a 4th degree tear…and still stopped that soon.
• Those first few weeks when almost 80% of women say they experience the baby blues, I felt incredible. I was so in love with this little life we created, and the only overwhelming emotion I felt was joy. Not going to lie, once the sleep deprivation set in around 4-5 weeks, I then got a little emotional..but who wouldn’t when they haven’t slept through the night in over a month. 😉 And even at that, it was only a few days here and there that I got overwhelmed.
• When friends would come over in those first few weeks and bless us with meals, everyone would say how I totally seemed ‘myself’. And I felt like myself…but with a baby now:)

There are two options for consuming your placenta. I had mine frozen and added it to smoothies for the next two weeks. I love having smoothies every morning, and this was no different. I am not lying when I say that I could not even taste it, at all. I simply made sure to add a lot of raspberries or strawberries to every smoothie. I also put in a packet of acai, spinach, greek yogurt, chia seed, and a little OJ. The smoothies were fantastic! I so wanted Jeremy to try some of mine, just so he would believe me that you couldn’t taste it, but he wouldn’t!

The other option, which is more popular, is having it encapsulated. This method is definitely one that you want to hire professionals to do, as it can be a little labor intensive. I think more people choose this option because it doesn’t seem as gross, as you are just taking ‘pills’. I chose the other option because Shanda was incredible in preparing it, and I believe that not only having it ‘fresh’ is best, but also getting more of it in your system right away is better. When it is encapsulated, you take it over three months. I wanted all of ‘the goods’ as I called it, in me ASAP! Also, having it encapsulated is way more expensive, as the cheapest option in Phoenix that I found was $300.

So there it is. I ate my placenta…and I am SO glad I did. If you are interested in having Shanda prepare yours for you, you can email me and I will put you in contact with her. It truly was such a great blessing for me mentally and physically, and I highly recommend it.

** A little friendly disclaimer: this is just one mama’s personal story. If you’re interested in the idea, talk to your provider and consult with expert sources. **