You did what with your Placenta?!

I know this isn't my normal kind of post, but I wanted to share some information and my experience with ingesting my placenta after birth. In some cultures this is completely normal and others it is taboo. The placenta is seen, in some cultures, as a nutritional powerhouse, medicine or a sacred organ. Living in a culture where this is seen as taboo, weird, disgusting and off-the-wall, I was open to the idea that other cultures may be on to something. Even animals eat their placenta after birth. I am a big believer in trying everything once and also taking into consideration others experiences with different things.

I had never heard of placenta encapsulation until I moved out to San Diego and had seen an advertisement for a midwife who offered placenta encapsulation, along with a variety of other services. At the time, I was working in a local health foods store and had become much more open to the idea that there are a ton of holistic ways to heal yourself. After seeing that advertisement, I did some research and read a ton on  the perks of consuming your placenta. I was absolutely fascinated with the idea! I have come a very long way from eating only processed foods and taking a handful of pills a day to try to find some balance. In the past 10 years I have gradually changed my lifestyle to incorporate whole foods, no drugs, weight loss and holistic remedies to help eliminate/improve certain ailments. The idea of consuming the placenta postpartum wasn't as crazy as I would have thought in my younger years. Our bodies are amazing and can heal themselves with the right tools/foods/etc. 

Why did I choose to consume my placenta? After a ton of reading and learning about the benefits of consuming my placenta, I decided to give it a try. There are a couple options for consuming your placenta. You can have it made into a tincture, capsules, smoothies, stew or whatever other creative way you can think of. I chose the encapsulation route. 

Some of the benefits include:

• helps increase your energy postpartum
• decreasing the likelihood of the "baby blues" and postpartum depression
• contains a ton of nutrients and hormones
• helps decrease the amount of healing time
• helps increase your milk supply
• can help with menopausal symptoms (in tincture form) 
• helps reduce the amount of bleeding postpartum

How do you encapsulate the placenta? You just dehydrate it, process it to a fine powder and add it to empty capsules. There are at-home kits to encapsulate your own placenta, but I chose to have a specialist prepare mine. I knew I was going to be exhausted, overwhelmed and so engaged in the baby, that I may not have the timed or energy to prepare it myself. It cost me $150 and I truly believe it was money well spent. The specialist came to the hospital, the same day of the birth and returned it encapsulated 2 days later to my home. You can take 2-6 placenta pills a day, depending on your energy levels, depression, etc. I've been taking a steady 2 a day since receiving them. I'm down to my last couple pills and really feel great. Now this is my first child and I don't have any other experience to compare it to, but I feel better than I expected. My mood is great, compared to during my pregnancy (I was really grouchy). It's been almost a month since giving birth to my gorgeous baby boy and I'm truly starting to feel like myself again. 

For more info check out: Placenta Benefits

Have any of you tried placenta encapsulation or something similar?