Category: Bellies and Babies

If you met me at the park I’d seem normal enough. I’d probably be dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and some kick-ass Dansko boots I paid too much for – as opposed to, say, a broomstick skirt and Birkenstocks. I’m no fashion plate, but I wear makeup. I shave my legs and my armpits. You probably wouldn’t immediately suspect that, in the secret recesses of my little house in the city, I write blog posts about the magic and miracles of placenta medicine.

At some point, I turned into a closet hippie. I’m sitting here in my little post partum nest, high on the hormones from my placenta, having just rubbed my breast milk on my baby’s bottom to soothe his little diaper rash. This is the same breast milk I expressed to give to my five year old in hopes it will speed his recovery from his cold. And as I sit here I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the amazing power of a mother’s body to heal and nourish and protect her children and herself.

But I still look normal.

I’m not sure when or where I first heard the idea of placenta medicine, but at some point after the birth of my second child I was introduced to the idea that consuming the placenta either as food, or in the form of medicine, could replenish nutrients and hormones lost during the birth process.

The Fruit of the Womb web site has this to say about placenta encapsulation:

Over 80% of mothers suffer from the “baby blues” starting in the first weeks after giving birth. Studies show that the placenta is extremely nutrient rich, high in iron, protein, vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B6 and of course, your own natural hormones. Your placenta is perfectly made for you, by you. Experts agree that the placenta retains hormones, and thus reintroducing them to your system may ease hormonal fluctuations.

Placenta pills are believed to:
– diminish “baby blues”
– increase breast milk production
– help the uterus to contract down and therefore lessens postpartum bleeding
– ease fatigue
– contain your own natural hormones
– balance your system
– replenish nutrients lost during childbirth
– increase energy levels
– ease your postpartum transition

Although current formal research on human placentophagy does not exist, what we do know is that women who take placenta capsules report fewer emotional issues, have more energy and tend to enjoy a faster, more pleasant postpartum recovery.

After two bouts of post partum depression, I was willing to try anything to prevent a third round. I want to enjoy my baby’s infancy, not spend it in a cloud of anxiety and tears. I figured I don’t have anything to lose. There are no side effects to consuming your placenta, and the more I read about it the more it seems like something everyone should do. I’m ready to scream from the roof tops “don’t throw out your placenta! Don’t feed it to a tree! Take it back into you and let it nourish and heal you! You are worth it!”

I called the ladies at Fruit of the Womb and within hours they had picked up the placenta from my mom’s house. They returned it to me 24 hours later with a beautiful print of my placenta, a lovely umbilical cord keepsake, and about 100 placenta pills. The directions are to take 1-3 capsules, 1-3 times a day. “Listen to your body,” the label says, “you’ll know what you need.”



Photo from Fruit of the Womb



I opened the pretty little jar and was, admittedly, a bit put off by the smell. My husband claims he can’t smell it, but, honestly it makes me gag. No matter. I quickly popped three pills in my mouth. I figured, with my history, 3 pills, 3 times a day would be the right dose. Within about half an hour, I felt a little. . . stoned. It was nuts. I wasn’t expecting to feel anything – except maybe not depressed. But I felt really calm and peaceful and a little. . . zoned out. And my lips felt a little . . . funny. Now, I just gave birth so it’s been awhile since I’ve consumed more than a few sips of alcohol at a time, but after some reflection I realized I felt like I’d just had a big glass of wine. Huh. Maybe the maximum dose is overkill. My plan now is to take one in the morning, two in the afternoon and three when I’m ready for bed.

We’ll see how things go. I’m optimistic. Which for me, post partum, is a rare thing indeed.

If you want to learn more about placenta medicine, visit the Fruit of the Womb web site and blog. You may not be as motivated as I was to read the whole blog, but it’s fascinating and worth the time. And if you’re interested in placenta encapsulation and you’re not in the Denver Metro area, the ladies at Fruit of the Womb have put together a great directory of service providers throughout the country.

So little Thomas has made his arrival and I have tons and tons and tons I want to write about. All in good time. I keep thinking about how things are different the third time around. And how much easier it all is in so many ways.

My brother is getting ready to have his first baby, and I keep thinking of things I want to share with him to help make his first time easier than mine was. Of course, I don’t want to sound like the obnoxious know-it-all mom. I know I still have a ton to learn. But there are things I know now that I didn’t know the first time that are making things a bit easier and more fun.

Tonight, I just wanted to share one little tidbit that makes having a newborn more interesting.

Did you know that babies can control their tongues from birth? And that they will try to imitate you if you stick your tongue out at them? Give it a try. When your baby  is in a state of “quiet alertness” – that means he’s awake and wide-eyed and still – look him in the eye, and slowly slowly stick your tongue out at him. And then wait. See what happens. Chances are you’ll see his little tongue poke out of his mouth. You just had your first two-way conversation with your baby!

My mama always told us that sticking your tongue out at someone means “I love you.” In this case, she was right!

Yup. Thought yesterday was going to be the day. Cooked some more. Cleaned some more. Payed the bills. Had contractions all day. Marveled at my perfect children. (Seriously, the 5 year old played happily with his action figures by himself while his sister took a 3 hour nap. When does that ever happen?) Woke up this morning still pregnant. Oh well.

The readings at Mass last Sunday seemed particularly appropriate to this period of waiting. Of course, it was the first Sunday of Advent, and Advent is, after all, all about waiting. Specifically, even, about waiting for a baby to arrive. This passage from Matthew really spoke to me:

Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. 
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

The anticipation, the excitement, the need to be prepared. My mother keeps telling me I need to rest, but I’m not tired. I feel almost manic. I figure no matter how much rest I get now, I’m still going to be exhausted once the baby is born. And I want to be able to rest and snuggle with him as much as possible when he gets here. And I’m getting plenty of sleep at night, so I’m not running myself ragged.

But I am tackling chores that I know won’t get done for many more months. Not because I feel like I have to, but because I want to. Like scrubbing out my kitchen trash can. I couldn’t tell you the last time I did that. It’s not something that I sit around thinking I need to do. But I saw it needed to be done, and I had the time, energy and inclination to do it, so I did.

I really am excited to meet this little guy. The two children I have met are so different from each other and so wonderful in their unique ways. I can’t wait to get to know this little one too. I can’t wait to see how he fits into the family and how his siblings respond to him. I can’t wait to smell him, and snuggle him, and nurse him, and hold him while he sleeps. I can’t wait to sit with him by the fire while we celebrate Christmas in those magical newborn days. I can’t wait to be surrounded by the wonder of a tiny new life at a time when the whole world is celebrating the birth of Our Savior. Perhaps I’ll be blessed with some sense of the awe Mary must have felt on that first Christmas.

I’m in that stage of pregnancy where I can pretty much choose to look pregnant or not. It depends a lot on what I’m wearing, how I’m standing and how well you know what I look like when I’m not pregnant. There’s no way I could hide it from close friends and family members, but I’m not “showing” enough for a stranger (at least a smart one) to risk asking when I’m “due.”

Yesterday I was enjoying a beautiful morning sitting under a tree with a neighbor while our kids ran around. She commented that I “look great,” that I’m still “so thin,” and that you can’t tell I’m pregnant at all. I appreciated the flattery, of course. Not 10 minutes later, I met another neighbor in her backyard where she asked me, “Did you pop this soon with #2 or is it because this is your third?”

Ah, well. As the saying goes, “flattery is the food of fools!”

I want to begin this post by saying that I am 100% supportive of and in favor of home birth. I think home birth midwives provide fabulous prenatal care, unbelievable labor support and amazing postpartum services. I believe home birth is safe and I absolutely think it should be legal everywhere.

BUT (you knew there was a “but”), I do not think that having a home birth makes you a superior human being. I also do not think that choosing to birth in a hospital means that you are fearful of the birth process, or that you have been duped by modern society into believing that pregnancy and birth are risky medical conditions, or that you are ignorantly (or willfully) putting your life and the life of your baby at risk by entering into a place where you will be drugged and cut against your will and will likely contract a MRSA infection in the process.

I recently had the privilege of hearing Ina May Gaskin speak to a group of parents and birth professionals about her work at The Farm and the history of obstetrics. She is an amazing speaker, midwife and woman, and it was a fascinating presentation. But what she failed to acknowledge in her talk, and what the audience seemed to fail to grasp, is that there are hospitals where women can receive the care and respect that they deserve through pregnancy and delivery.

We are incredibly fortunate in the Denver Metro area to have several woman- and baby-friendly hospitals. The Center for Midwifery at the University of Colorado Hospital offers skilled midwives who love natural child birth and know how to support women toward that end. You can also have a water birth in the hospital if you want! Also the Boulder Nurse Midwives, who have privileges at Boulder Community Hospital provide supportive, holistic, naturally minded care to women wishing to receive top quality care while birthing in a hospital.                                                                                    

In addition to the hospitals, women in the metro area can choose to birth at a free standing birth center. Mountain Midwifery Center strives to be a “maxi home” not a “mini hospital.” Started by a former home birth midwife, the center provides yet another wonderful option for women birthing in Denver.

And, of course, Denver is blessed with a number of highly skilled home birth midwives with decades of experience in providing women with high quality prenatal care and amazing and safe home birth experiences.

The point is, in Denver, women have a lot of really good choices about where to go for prenatal care and  the labor and delivery experience. And women have all kinds of reasons for making the choices they do about where to birth. We should celebrate a woman’s right to choose the care that is best for her and her family, not subtly undermine or belittle women who choose differently than we do.

I am so happy, giddy even, for my friends who have had the amazing home birth of their dreams. When I got pregnant for the third time, I once again considered home birth as an option for myself. After a lot of soul searching I realized that I don’t want to birth at home.

Before hearing Ina May speak I wondered if I would be thrown back into a crisis about the choice that I’ve made. But I wasn’t. I’m excited about giving birth again. I can’t wait for the experience! I was just a touch saddened by the tsk- tsk-ing, the sad head shaking, the judgement I perceived from the home birth advocates when I was one of 2 women who admitted to planning to birth in the hospital.

All women are different. And different women want different things. And as women, we should support and even celebrate each other in the positive choices we make. Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice ourselves.