Placenta pie anyone?

The weekend was actually fun. It was nice to see all of my friends and get out of the house. I was so busy this weekend I didn’t have much time to think about things so I might try to keep that going. At dinner on Saturday night, I got to see about 12 women I went to college with. Our dinner conversation topics have definitely changed and most of us look very different but the dynamic of the group hasn’t changed. I haven’t laughed that much in a long time. Conversation topics of the cute fraternity boys and next parties have changed to things people do with their placenta after child birth and what happens when you push during labor. We were all laughing as the women who are expecting shared their fears and those that had given birth helped to make them feel better with their funny labor stories. The dinner topics did get me curious so I decided to do some research on the whole placenta thing. One of my very good friends is scheduled to give birth in a hospital in Boulder, CO next month so her and her husband went on a tour of the facility and went through her birthing plan. During the plan, she was asked what she would like to do with her placenta. Confused and not expecting the question she asked “what should I be doing with it?” The nurse then explained the mothers are welcome to take the placenta home and that some even ate their own placentas. My friend, was horrified and simply replied “we will not be needing a placenta service, thank you.” Her story is also the first time I have heard of people not only keeping their placentas but also ingesting them. In my mind I was picturing a woman checking out of the hospital and being handed her placenta wrapped like they wrap meat at the deli….so weird to me. Anyway here is what I found on the subject…… In the USA, most people don’t ever see their placentas (in fact some states have regulations that don’t allow patients to take their placentas out of the hospital). Most of the time they are either thrown away or sold to cosmetic companies (it’s true the embryonic tissue can be pulled from any pregnant mammal and used as a wrinkle reducer in skin creams…check this time article out http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000192,00.html. Makes you want to rub your miracle cream all over doesn’t it?...Not!! A few other things Americans (that are allowed to take theirs home) are currently doing with their placentas. Some women plant their placenta in their yard and then plant a tree over it. Then every time the plant blooms, they are reminded of the birth or their child (doesn’t seem that bad to me, actually kind of like the idea). Other women make placenta prints. Before their birth they select a few pieces of art paper. After birth, they drop the placenta straight on the paper and have the blood mark the paper or some wipe the placenta off, dip it in ink and then drop it on paper (nothing like arts and crafts time after pushing out a watermelon from your hoha). Last but not least, some American women make medicine like capsules of their placenta and take them in order to ward off post partum depression and retain vitamins/minerals that may be lost during the birth process. I also found a crazy article on an artist who will take women’s placentas and sew them into teddy bears (I am not even going to comment on this one but here is the article http://www.bettyconfidential.com/ar/ld/a/Things-To-Do-With-Your-Placenta.html). What is interesting is what other cultures do with their placentas. I found this website ( http://www.pregnancy.org/question/what-can-we-do-placenta) that discusses what some other cultures believe about the placenta and what rituals they have on the subject. It seems that other cultures believe the placenta is considered to have a permanent and almost magical bond with the child it nourished in the womb, and disposal is handled as more of a ritual then just throwing in the trash…leave it to Americans to heave part of every citizens spiritual being into the trash right after birth. Welcome to America we are going to take away part of your soul but don’t worry you will never miss it. If you are lucky, a star might rub part of you all over their face!!! Back on topic… In Peru the father of the newborn child is required to bury the placenta in a safe place and deep enough so that no animals or people will accidentally discover it. Otherwise, if the placenta is disturbed the belief is that it might become "jealous" of the attention paid to the baby and may take revenge by causing an epidemic (I am picturing a cartoon placenta with arms and legs running towards a village) Some South American Indian cultures believe that a child's life can be influenced by objects that are buried with its placenta. Boys' placentas are frequently buried with a shovel or a pick, and girls' are buried with a loom or a hoe (I would want mine buried with diamonds, a symbol of good fertility and a symbol of good fortune…not sure what the diamonds what be for except that they are always a girls best friend so it couldn’t hurt right?). In the Philippines some bury the placenta with books as a way of ensuring intelligence. In ancient Egypt, pharaohs' placentas were wrapped in special containers to keep them from harm (I am wondering if they were kept on a shelf in each indivuals home? Was it something that went with them when they moved out and went out on their own? Was it something people compared? Mine is dark red but look how big yours is!). Traditional Vietnamese medicine uses placentas to combat sterility (if they think this, maybe it is true?). In India, touching a placenta is supposed to help a childless woman conceive a healthy baby of her own (yes I am thinking about where I might be able to find a placenta to touch… I know can you say DESPERATE. Maybe I could just wait outside someone’s room who is giving birth and ask to touch her placent…would that be to creepy? ..um yes). In China, some believe that breastfeeding mothers can improve the quality of their milk by drinking a broth made of boiled placenta. To top of the placenta discussion here are ten things you should know human placenta use in cosmetics courtesy of http://www.urbanhillbillyorganics.com/.


1. Hospitals do sell unclaimed placenta to pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies.

2. Eventhough many companies have reported their use of placenta in cosmetics, most are afraid to advertise this because customers are "squeamish" about the idea.

3. Collagen, a common ingredient in many popular lotions and creams, is often extracted from placenta.

4. For some groups, the use of products containing placenta - according to recent study - may be linked to premature sexual development.

5. Hormones extracted from placenta can be very effective in reducing the appearance of wrinkles.

6. In Hong Kong it is admitted as a new trend that human placenta ingredients, as well as others from aborted fetuses, are used in beauty supplements.

7. Placental cosmetics, first used as injections in the 1930's that cost up to $10,000 per treatment, were pioneered by Dr. Paul Niehans as a luxury reserved for the rich & famous.

Your welcome, hope you are able to use your face lotion tonight. Isn’t it funny how you have never considered what is in your miracle cream until now??? And now an update… I had more clear CM over the weekend and noticed some cramping on the lower left side of my abdomen yesterday. I also noticed that I am not hungry as often as I used to be. Could it be because my colon is able to absorb more nutrients since the last cleanse?? Mrs. W told me that happened to her so I am thinking that is exactly what is going on. Yeah! I am not going to eat as much anymore, bikini season is almost underway so hopefully this continues. The baby shower was fun and I was able to spend the afternoon with my two very best friends and then work on the plans for a baby shower I am co-hosting in a few weeks. I was able to go home and enjoy the evening with my hubby with no ill feelings (after a ranting session with my mom..sorry mom someone has to hear it). I wanted to get rid of the “feeling sorry for myself mood” before I got home and I did (Man do I owe my mom a good present for Mother’s Day, she is always there for me). When I got home from the baby shower festivities, my husband was watching a movie and looked at my face to see if there had been a “disaster” while I was out. He seemed surprised when I walked up, gave him a kiss and went upstairs to change. Encouraged that I didn’t have a drama for him to talk me through, he met me in the kitchen and helped me make fertility friendly fish tacos and then we watched Police Academy while we dined. It was a very nice night and I am happy he is trying to eat my fertility food concoction. I of course didn’t drizzle flaxseed oil over his tacos but he doesn’t need estrogen, I do. Well hi ho hi ho it’s off to work I go. Happy Monday!