When I was a little girl, I never in a million years thought that I would grow up to be a Postpartum Placenta Encapsulation Specialist.
In fairness, when I was a little girl, and well into adulthood, I didn’t know there was such a career. But even once I had heard of consuming your placenta in an effort to recover more easily from birth, it didn’t sound like a thing I would be into.
Somehow, the idea of picking someone else’s body part up from the hospital (or wherever they had their baby), carrying it home with me, and doing heaven knows what to it was unappealing. I guess I’m a prude.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think placentas are gross. I think it’s a miracle that adult human bodies grow entire organs. And those organs’ whole purpose is to take care of the human being, that is growing inside of another human being!
Stop and think about that. If you’re pregnant right now, you’re almost science fiction. You blow my mind, and I am in awe.
But I’ve digressed. My point is, that the idea of holding a placenta, while it was intimidating, wasn’t gross to me. It seemed like an opportunity to witness a miracle up close. And I’m all about everyday miracles. That’s part of what I love about being a doula.
It also makes intuitive sense that perhaps ingesting the placenta would ease the transition into life as a new parent. It’s like putting back some of what you’ve given to your baby for all these many months.
What has never made sense, is taking your science fictitious, miraculous masterpiece of an organ, your placenta, home with me.
What right do I have to be carrying that around? I didn’t make it. I’m not an organ transplant team off to perform another miracle.
And is that safe? How can it be a good idea? Transporting people’s body parts outside of medical context seems like the sort of thing Dr. Frankenstein would do.
Furthermore, if a placenta leaves it owner, and is returned in a different form, how does anyone know which placenta capsules they get back? Or if it’s even placenta? Why the mystery?
It all has shades of medical experimentation to it, and my folks have been through enough of that.
I found out though, that there’s another option. One that gives you total control over your body and your placenta every step of the way.
In-home placenta encapsulation!
It was like a lightbulb went off for me. In a time in your life where everything can feel like it’s left up to chance and the whims of your baby, this is something that you can control.
The way that DC Metro Maternity prepares placenta capsules, you get to watch the entire process of your placenta being prepared for consumption, if you’d like. Or you can go take a nap with your baby with peace of mind, and skip anything you’d rather not see.
Either way, what’s important to me is that you know that nothing is happening in some unknown “placenta processing area” in the wilds of Maryland that you can’t verify.
Some of my colleagues think that treating placentas so carefully means that I’m fearful of them. They think I’m making too much of a fuss.
But I guess I’m old-fashioned. I think that we should keep an eye on our placentas, or at the very least not send them off to parts unknown.
I’m not afraid. I’m in awe! And with that awe comes a healthy respect for you and your safety, and your right to control what happens to you. I guess you can call me a prude about placentas.
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