ladies, apparently Matthew McConaughey believes he will bury his child's placenta....

[Nicole M]

should we break it to him?

 

It ain't gonna happen. It will be years. Perhaps decades, that that thing will be in his freezer.

 

A friend of mine sent me the following email. She is lovingly trying to encourage me to deal with the placenta in our freezer, turning 12 on October 4.

 

Goodmorning Lady Nicole~

 

In yesterday's paper I read that Matthew McConaughey (actor) said the "birth of his son will help bring a little joy to others in the world someday." He's kept the placenta from the July birth of his son and plans to plant it in an orchard. He says, "...he hopes the placenta will fertilize the land, a ritual long followed in several cultures."

 

I say you contact him, network to find other "placenta in the freezer" folks, pick a day to do the planting...it could become the next "SPECIAL DAY" to be added the world's calendars!

 

Now this is a noble idea. But perhaps I am in denial, because, really, the network seems feasible, but the actual burying does not. I imagine we'd all celebrate virtually, lying through our teeth, "oh, it was lovely!" but we wouldn't actually do it.

 

What say you?

 

And no, not all my friends are enlightened enough to understand that "Lady Nicole" is the appropriate appellation. :D

[Oak Knoll Mom]

I'll join in. I have two.

[Kathleen in VA]

I'm clueless. Why freeze a placenta? I really, honestly do not know.

[Nicole M]

I'm clueless. Why freeze a placenta? I really, honestly do not know.

 

Kathleen, I ask myself that question every single day. Okay, no I don't. I ask it once a year when my mother comes to visit and she reaches for the refrigerator door apprehensively and asks, whispering, "It's not still in there, is it?" And then she shudders.

 

I had a home birth and in my post birth haze, the midwives were oohing and ahing over the placenta "beautiful!" (and I'm thinkin' what about the kid?) and I succumbed to a kind of peer pressure and agreed to bury the thing under a tree. The freezer is just the holding area. But you know, after you have a baby, you have a baby, and dealing with a placenta is simply not a high priority. Hence. It sits. And the longer it sits, the more frightened I am to deal with it.

[Nicole M]

I'll join in. I have two.

 

And it looks like Robin is the top contender for the gold in quantity of placentae!

[Parrothead]

I think I'd rather donate it to science than bury it in the yard. Ewwww.

[susie in tx]

I had two in the freezer until last year. One moved from Kansas to an apartment in TX to our current home here in TX. Last year, my dh and I purchased a tree for the 6 yo placenta. The tree died.

 

So now I have an almost 5 yo placenta in the freezer, with another on to soon join it.

 

Good luck to Matthew. There's no telling how long he'll really have that placenta.

[Mama Lynx]

I buried mine! (Rather, my son's.) It only took four years! :D

[Amy in NH]

So sorry! I actually buried my dd's last summer when we moved. She had just turned two.

 

It would still be in my freezer if we hadn't moved, though! :D

[nmoira]

Funny, I pictured him as the "eat the placenta" type.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

I say he can come in person to my backyard and plant it here! As long as it's in person!;):D

[Kathleen in VA]

I buried mine! (Rather, my son's.) It only took four years! :D

 

Anything growing? Just curious.:D

 

OK, this whole thing is just plain new and unfamiliar to me. Now that I know that keeping a placenta in the freezer is for saving it to plant later, why would you want to plant a placenta?

 

Hey, that's a good name for a book, Planting My Placenta. Or maybe, just a poem.:001_smile:

[Amy in NH]

I'm clueless. Why freeze a placenta? I really, honestly do not know.

 

In case of post partum depression. Ingestion of placenta can cure it.

[Guest Katia]

Everyone "oohh"ed and "aahh"ed over mine in the delivery room. Dr. said it was the longest one he had ever seen (and he was plenty gray).

 

So, dr. asked if I would be willing to donate it to research. I said sure and signed a paper saying I was giving up all rights to my placenta.

 

At the time, I thought it was odd. I mean......why would I want it?

 

Now, however, I see that others freeze theirs with intentions to one day plant it. I am glad that the intent is for the placenta to be fertilizer. When I read the title to this post, I was afraid the actor thought if he planted it, he could grow another baby!

 

So...all three of mine have been donated to science. Who knew my one claim to scientific research fame would be seriously long placentas?

[Kathleen in VA]

In case of post partum depression. Ingestion of placenta can cure it.

 

Well, I sure wish someone had told me that - post partum depression was my middle name there for awhile. Too late for me now, but for the sake of my daughters who are sure to have inherited my temperament, how does one "ingest" a placenta. Are there recipes?

[milovany]

I've got two, too! I just want part of the gold-covered whatever it was you said you were giving away, lol. One from Feb. 06 and one from this past April.

[Cricket]

Our midwife told us we could bury it or burn it. As soon as dh cleaned up after our two homebirths, the placenta went straight out to the burn barrel and was burned along with everything else. I didn't even want to see the thing, let alone stick it in the freezer!

[Oak Knoll Mom]

I've got two, too! I just want part of the gold-covered whatever it was you said you were giving away, lol. One from Feb. 06 and one from this past April.

 

But mine are older. March '02 and Dec '04. (hanging my head in shame.)

[dragons in the flower bed]

Too late for me now, but for the sake of my daughters who are sure to have inherited my temperament, how does one "ingest" a placenta. Are there recipes?

 

Yes. Usually you take it in smoothie form. I did not. The placenta from my 8yo and my 5yo are buried under a juniper and a sage, on the edge of a pine forest, near their biological father's cabin (which they'll inherit someday). My youngest was an emergency C-section, and it did not occur to me until I saw this thread to wonder what they did with his placenta. He was an emergency C-section in part because the placenta had ceased to function.

[lwilliams1922]

We lost ours due to a power outage while we were out of town last year.

:( I don't know if I would have ever planted it beacuse would be afraid if we moved and had to leave it.

 

 

 

I think I got a kick of my daughter telling people (especially her science teacher) that we had one in the freezer. No one wanted to believe her.

[HomeOnTheRanch]

We buried ours about 7 months after the birth. We were moving!

[elegantlion]

I absolutely had never heard of this practice until this thread. I have now learned something new today. Yeah! Emergency c-section here too, I have no clue what they did with mine.

[Amy in NH]

My midwife would dehydrate it, powder it, and put it in capsules.

[Jenny in Atl]

Funny, I pictured him as the "eat the placenta" type.

 

Yup... I'd love to come over and just watch him, either bury or eat. Not sure his lady friend would approve. :lol:

[Chris in CA]

:lol: I learn something new everyday!

[laylamcb]

I hope that this doesn't offend any of you dear Placenta People, but...

 

this thread has the makings of a great horror flick:

 

It's ALIIIIIIIIIIVE! :D

[Gretchen in NJ]

I had two in the freezer until last year. One moved from Kansas to an apartment in TX to our current home here in TX. Last year, my dh and I purchased a tree for the 6 yo placenta. The tree died.

 

So now I have an almost 5 yo placenta in the freezer, with another on to soon join it.

 

Good luck to Matthew. There's no telling how long he'll really have that placenta.

Oh Susie. :lol:I am so sorry your tree died, but I can't help laughing.:lol: I hope that is how you meant your post to be.:lol:

[Gretchen in NJ]

My midwife would dehydrate it, powder it, and put it in capsules.

Why?:confused:

 

I am not sure I want to know.

[susie in tx]

Oh Susie. :lol:I am so sorry your tree died, but I can't help laughing.:lol: I hope that is how you meant your post to be.:lol:

 

I certainly meant it to be funny.

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I suppose I should also confess and say that when we were planting the tree, the placenta was a last minute idea. So, it was mostly frozen when it went into the ground. I'm pretty sure it shocked the poor tree.

[Parrothead]

This is seriously grossing me out. :ack2: I really don't need to read any more of this thread, but you know I'm not going to be able to help myself.:D

[Gretchen in NJ]

I certainly meant it to be funny.

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I suppose I should also confess and say that when we were planting the tree, the placenta was a last minute idea. So, it was mostly frozen when it went into the ground. I'm pretty sure it shocked the poor tree.

Oh good! Because you were very funny! I just wanted to make sure you were not mourning your tree.;)

[dangermom]

I thought you were supposed to cook the placenta, like maybe slice it up and fry it, not eat it raw. :ack2: But I know it's a big deal, because it's so lifegiving and the only meat you can eat without killing something. Or so I hear. (So, vegetarians would eat placenta, right? Maybe?)

 

I didn't keep mine, or it would still be in the freezer, definitely. With my second, the doc said it was one of the biggest he'd ever seen! Everyone was oohing and aahing. Heh. I'm so proud.

[fivetails]

(So, vegetarians would eat placenta, right? Maybe?)

 

 

 

Well, *this* vegetarian sure as heck would not. Yuck! :tongue_smilie:

 

 

The whole idea of saving it alone kinda causes me the same reaction - but I picked up a ready-made family and have never actually given birth....perhaps if I had, I'd feel differently... but I dunno 'bout that!... :001_huh:

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

until marijuana is legalized and then use it to fertilize his hemp garden? :001_smile:

 

Of course, he will run around nekid....

[mommylawyer]

Never froze, planted, ate or otherwise kept any of the placentas.

 

However, DH and I examined all 3 with the OB or midwife (the second, we got a nice explanation about it) AND I have a picture of the third - not in the family photo album though.

 

Freezing ... now there's a goal to meet if I get pg again.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

In the interest of full disclosure, I suppose I should also confess and say that when we were planting the tree, the placenta was a last minute idea. So, it was mostly frozen when it went into the ground. I'm pretty sure it shocked the poor tree.

 

Well, we buried a frozen hamster under a rose plant, and we get roses every year...

 

Honestly, how much bigger than a hamster is a placenta? Three times? Five times? I've never seen my placentae. (is that the proper plural?) I had two emergency CSections, and was just glad to be alive..

[Aubrey]

This is cracking me up. I wonder...is it too late to get ours back out of...the dumpster, I guess?

 

The dc have been *begging* to see a placenta & an umbilical cord, so mw was under strict instructions to save it long enough for them to see. I overheard part of the conversation, as she walked them through the ins & outs.

 

Dd5: "Can you EAT it?" (Seriously? She *does* think that way.)

 

Mw: "Wellll...??? I guess you *could*!"

 

And I hadn't realized that I hadn't seen one before (or had I just effectively blocked the memory?), but...eww!

 

As far as tradition goes, I read about it right around the time dh & I married in a book called...hmmm...I can't remember the title. But it's a YA Hispanic-American Lit novel about a boy & his grmother & their culture, etc. One of the vivid details was the tradition of burying the placenta.

 

I thought, How nice. We should do that. But then...we had our 1st 2 babies while living w/ ils. It was weird enough that we were using a birth center & a mw; I couldn't very well come home w/ a placenta, too. Then we were moving, & now we're here, in apts, & I guess it just seems like life is too transient for planting placentae. We don't live on family land that has been passed down since the time of the vaqueros (sp?), & we can't point out the window at "your" tree, in a row of nice, stair-stepped trees that represent the life (& sometimes loss of life) that birth & its placentae represent.

 

Kind-of sad. But maybe all these thoughts could be put into some kind of poem. An Ode to the Placenta in my Freezer? ;):lol:

[RoughCollie]

I was talking to my mom on the phone and I asked her if she had saved our (her?) placentas and told her about this thread. She was so disgusted at the thought that she got right off the phone.

 

I called her back to tell her about placenta smoothies and she hung up on me.

 

It's a good day when I can gross out my mother.

 

RC

[Krista in LA]

Last year, my dh and I purchased a tree for the 6 yo placenta. The tree died.

 

:lol::lol:

[Tammyla]

:lol::lol:

 

Funny, I pictured him as the "eat the placenta" type.

[lighthouseacademy]

:lol::lol::lol: This whole thread is making me laugh. The grossed out mother I can relate to... and the we had it until we moved I can relate to also. We kept #1 and #2 and ended up throwing them away because we couldn't plant them (I tried to plant #2's at my mom's before we moved but the ground was too solid in September in the foothills of CA. My mom had no understanding of the sentimental feelings and couldn't believe I had held onto it for nearly 2 years. Then she told me that we weren't meant to keep them because otherwise they wouldn't separate from our bodies... With #3 I realized I wouldn't plant it because I didn't want to leave it behind should we move, so the midwife disposed of it.

[Nicole M]

I...and she hung up on me.

 

It's a good day when I can gross out my mother.

 

RC

 

This is making me giggle.

 

You are an evil child.

[dragons in the flower bed]

My midwife would dehydrate it, powder it, and put it in capsules.

 

What a great midwife! That I might have eaten.

[dragons in the flower bed]

this thread has the makings of a great horror flick:

 

Does your brain ever walk off without you on some tangent? I just pictured Earth, hundreds of years after nuclear war killed all of humanity, and [insert technical science-y stuff here] bringing the placentas in the freezers to life, clones of the children they nourished.

[Gretchen in NJ]

Does your brain ever walk off without you on some tangent? I just pictured Earth, hundreds of years after nuclear war killed all of humanity, and [insert technical science-y stuff here] bringing the placentas in the freezers to life, clones of the children they nourished.

OOOOOOkaaaaaaaaaaay. Now, how am I supposed to go to sleep tonight after reading that post?

 

Can you tell? I scare easy.;)

[Heather in the Kootenays]

Otherwise I might have an aging placenta in my freezer too.

[Jenny in Atl]

OOOOOOkaaaaaaaaaaay. Now, how am I supposed to go to sleep tonight after reading that post?

 

Can you tell? I scare easy.;)

 

[Amy in Orlando]

You are all too funny. And kind of gross. (I mean that in the best way) I will never sleep tonight - placentas roaming the deserted earth; placenta smoothies; tree-killing placentas; frying up placenta meat .... waahh.

[Mama Lynx]

Anything growing? Just curious.:D

 

OK, this whole thing is just plain new and unfamiliar to me. Now that I know that keeping a placenta in the freezer is for saving it to plant later, why would you want to plant a placenta?

 

Hey, that's a good name for a book, Planting My Placenta. Or maybe, just a poem.:001_smile:

 

It's full of nutrients! It's supposed to be very good for the soil.

 

And honestly, I don't know if anything grew. After I planted it, we moved. I didn't think I wanted to move it with us ... my son, whose placenta it was, was born in that house, and on that land. I thought it should stay there, even though we were selling the house.

 

The new owners know nothing ;-)

 

Susie, how does their front garden look? :D

[Mama Lynx]

I certainly meant it to be funny.

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I suppose I should also confess and say that when we were planting the tree, the placenta was a last minute idea. So, it was mostly frozen when it went into the ground. I'm pretty sure it shocked the poor tree.

 

I thawed mine on the counter first :lol: