Why yes, I am consuming an organ that I delivered out of my lady parts. YUM.
Placenta, membranes and umbillical cord
A lot of people have asked me to blog about this process–so per request–here’s our experience with placenta encapsulation.
This time around I was extremely interested in the potential benefits of placenta encapsulation which include assisting in the rebalancing of hormones, fighting post-partum depression, replenishing depleted iron levels, reducing
Traditional Steaming
bleeding, increasing milk production, increasing energy levels and aiding in the shrinking of the uterus.
So I set out to find a doula who was willing to complete the process in my home shortly after birth (yes, my home–I really wanted to get the full experience! Plus, something about them taking it away to do at their home mixed with my fear of hoarders made is necessary for it to be done in front of me–I have my limits!) and found Lia Reilly of Mother Wisdom. Lia came to my home with her own supplies and all I needed to provide was the placenta and a little bit of space. Side note: My kitchen had no mess and I watched her use a gazillion pairs of
Slicing the steamed
gloves to maintain sterility and avoid cross-contamination. And Lia was awesome with educating me on the process and talking me through each step since I was basically breathing down her neck the entire time knowing that people would just be dying to know the ins and outs of the process!
First, she removed the clots from the placenta and then flipped the amniotic membranes
Dehydrator (Top: Traditional, Bottom: Raw)
right side right. Then, she sliced off a couple small pieces to be thrown in some strawberry orange smoothies raw. Supposedly, it gives some moms a great boost of energy AND the raw can actually help replenish your iron supply fast if you experienced a lot of bleeding. (Update: It didn’t taste awful–it was more of a spongy texture thing that was sort of disguised by the strawberry pulp.)
There are two different ways that the pills can be made Raw or Traditional Style. Both kinds are essentially sliced and dehydrated. The only difference is Raw is sliced and dehydrated from raw and the Traditional Style is lightly steamed with ginger, peppers and lemon first.
Placenta Jerky (after 24 hr in dehydrator)
So she sliced off about half of the placenta into thin strips and laid directly on the dehydrator and then threw the remaining piece of placenta into the pot (sliced it after steaming) and then laid those pieces on the dehydrator. Then, they were left for 24+hours in the dehydrator to dehydrate 🙂
The next day, Lia came back and used a food processor
Filling capsules
to grind up the placenta and filled the capsules. I ended up with about 50 raw capsules, 40 Traditional style capsules and a couple pieces of raw placenta to toss in smoothies.
Disclaimer: While the process seems deceptively simple, I would urge anyone looking to try this to HIRE someone trained to complete this for you! If you cannot afford to do that, though, washing it and using the raw pieces in smoothies (that you’ve stored in your freezer) would be your best bet to avoid getting sick!
End Result
I will update on my experience soon.
Mompson 
Very interesting! I’ve never thought of doing it when I gave birth to my kids because I have not heard of it before but I don’t think I would have had the guts to do it.
Thanks! It’s definitely more “crunchy” than I ever thought I would go. Had you told me 5 years ago, I’d be watching someone hack up an organ that I took home from the hospital to consume–I would have laughed in your face. Evidently, it’s a traditional Chinese practice that is just starting to make an appearance in the hippy circles in the states. I am not a big “modern medicine” person and over the past few years (especially since becoming a mom) have been intrigued in other forms of healing practices. Can’t wait to get back to taking the pills (bad case of mastitis so I stopped taking the pills).