Did you ever eat your placenta?

[fairfarmhand]

50 minutes ago, Margaret in CO said:

I've watched WAY too many cows eat theirs, after it was dragged through the manure, mud, and snow. No thank you! The dogs are always skulking around, hoping to snatch a piece. It does help bring in the cow's colostrum.

Last year our dog dragged up a huge wad of that mess and left it up by the barn. I couldn’t figure out how she did it becaduse that stuff is so slimy that I couldn’t scoop it away with a shovel for a couple days. 

Nothing like getting a text from your dh “don’t forget to go try and pick up that nasty bit of placenta from out in front of the barn.”

Edited April 8, 2019 by fairfarmhand

[happypamama]

2 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

This is truth and what almost killed me and Benny when his placenta wasn’t working. He was asphyxiated and I ended up with rapid onset pre-eclampsia and elevated liver enzymes and stressed kidneys because it wasn’t filtering.  It stressed his liver and kidneys as well.  The exchange between the maternal and fetal side was impaired and blood flow restricted, but the placenta, itself, wasn’t absorbing or accumulating the waste products, it was more like a clogged filter.

It’s a very important organ - and deadly to one or both individuals involved when it doesn’t work right.  It was amazing how fast I deteriorated once the function was impaired beyond a certain level. His was slower and more gradual, but not less damaging.  An hour more and we both would have been toast.

 

anyway.  That’s an aside, but somewhat relevant to the topic of placentas.  And no, i didn’t encapsulate his because A) everything was emergent and B) pathology needed it for biopsy to determine the cause of our injuries.

Uh yeah. We have discussed this several times on my PE support group -- don't give the placenta another chance to kill you!  Also, it is full of estrogen, and since women with a history of PE aren't supposed to have estrogen-based birth control, ingesting a huge chunk of estrogen seems like a potentially bad idea. And, I didn't know I was going to get postpartum PE with AJ, so I'm extra glad I didn't ingest or pay anyone to do anything with his placenta because clearly, it did not play well with my system. 

 

(Hi, I got way less granola crunchy after preeclampsia. 🤣🤣)

[livetoread]

I’m vegetarian, so that’s my excuse 😂. I gave birth both times at a birthing center attached to a hospital, and my midwife asked me beforehand if I wanted to take the placentas home. I can’t remember if she mentioned eating them, but like I said, vegetarian! Anyway, I did take them home both times, kept them in the freezer for a bit, and then buried them where three pines formed a triangle in our backyard. I liked the idea of something that nurtured my babies continuing to nurture my garden.

[purpleowl]

No. I don't think I could get past the ick factor even if it were standard practice.

I did try to donate mine with the second child. After I'd delivered and the placenta had been set aside, they told me they needed to draw blood an extra time. I'd said up front that I would do it IF they could get what they needed from the blood draw I was going to have done anyway. So I said no at that point. I felt bad about it, but I also felt like a pincushion already and didn't want yet another blood draw.

And now I will share this link with you all, because no thread on this topic is complete without a placenta teddy bear link. (Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like.)

Edited April 8, 2019 by purpleowl

[purpleowl]

8 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

Oh. My. Cats.

 

🤮

Yep.

One of those things that I saw years ago and my brain refuses to forget. I seem to recall that there were also places that would take your placenta and make other crafty things with it, but thankfully the details have not stayed with me on those. 🤣

[Paige]

I did not and would not eat it, but I delivered my youngest in a completely normal not particularly crunchy hospital and the OB asked me if I wanted it packed up to eat or save. She asked me about it during its delivery. I kind of looked up and saw the bin waiting for it and all the blood everywhere- the floor, her hands, the bed- and probably gave her a disgusted look. She told me that you'd be surprised how many people want it packed up.   

[Katy]

9 minutes ago, Paige said:

I did not and would not eat it, but I delivered my youngest in a completely normal not particularly crunchy hospital and the OB asked me if I wanted it packed up to eat or save. She asked me about it during its delivery. I kind of looked up and saw the bin waiting for it and all the blood everywhere- the floor, her hands, the bed- and probably gave her a disgusted look. She told me that you'd be surprised how many people want it packed up.   

 

I'm curious what part of the country you lived in then?

[fairfarmhand]

1 minute ago, Margaret in CO said:

Next time, use a lawn rake. It's the ONLY thing that will get all the pieces. Or ignore it, and let the dogs deal with it. 

Thanks! (You never know what kind of valuable information you’ll discover on the hive)

[Forget-Me-Not]

No. I was quite happy to let the hospital cart it off to pathology and then the incinerator. 

[KidsHappen]

They asked my dd when she gave birth not so long ago in Atlanta, GA.

[MercyA]

5 hours ago, dirty ethel rackham said:

I'm confused why the placenta would be toxic.  it may prevent some toxins from entering fetal circulation due to molecular size, but I can't find anything that would state that toxins would accumulate.  Since it is well-vascularized, I would think the toxins would be filtered by the mother's liver and kidneys, not stored in placental tissue.  

 From this article (see p. 84 ), https://www.jognn.org/article/S0884-2175(15)00009-X/pdf:

"In addition to possible risks related to bioactive hormones, harmful substances including the heavy metals cadmium, lead, and mercury have been shown to accumulate in the placenta."

[dirty ethel rackham]

15 minutes ago, MercyA said:

 From this article (see p. 84 ), https://www.jognn.org/article/S0884-2175(15)00009-X/pdf:

"In addition to possible risks related to bioactive hormones, harmful substances including the heavy metals cadmium, lead, and mercury have been shown to accumulate in the placenta."

Interesting.  I'm just trying to figure out the mechanism that would allow toxins to accumulate rather than be filtered out by the organs designed to do this.  I wonder if it is more concentrated there or if it is reflective of concentrations in fatty tissue in other parts of the body.  I've never run across this in any obstetrical text book from my childbirth education days nor anatomy texts for my current studies.  

[MercyA]

@Arctic Mama, I really appreciate your openness about all kinds of topics on this forum. You have no fear and I like it. 😉 

[Chris in VA]

16 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

The smell is very much like liver or kidney, they dehydrate it offsite thankfully so it only smelled like animal based iron pills on my end.  I would hold my nose when I took them 🤣

I should mention my nurse midwives only recommended it after my most recent bout of prenatal and postpartum depression - it wasn’t their de facto postpartum treatment! I must be the only person brave enough to admit I did this 🤔

Still barfy, but I love you, Arctic Mama . 😁

[Chris in VA]

8 hours ago, Paige said:

I did not and would not eat it, but I delivered my youngest in a completely normal not particularly crunchy hospital and the OB asked me if I wanted it packed up to eat or save. She asked me about it during its delivery. I kind of looked up and saw the bin waiting for it and all the blood everywhere- the floor, her hands, the bed- and probably gave her a disgusted look. She told me that you'd be surprised how many people want it packed up.   

the ultimate doggy bag...🤢

[Guest]

16 hours ago, happypamama said:

There are a good many reasons not to, one of which is that postpartum preeclampsia is a thing, and that's because of a wonky placenta, so why give it a chance to hurt you again?

As someone who had PE twice and HELLP syndrome, this would be my fear-apparently placentas and I just don’t get along :(. 

[stibalfamily]

My neighbor just had a baby and thanks to this thread my face was totally unchanged when she told me she was getting her placenta capsules today. 

[klmama]

I did not.  I don't even remember if I was given the option, but I wouldn't have taken them up on it, if they had offered.  Too much ick factor for me.

However, I once knew a young woman whose mom was a midwife.  She said her mom kept placentas the mothers didn't want and prepared them for the family.  I think she called it cheese, so maybe something like head cheese?  I was so horrified, I didn't ask questions.  

[alisoncooks]

3 minutes ago, klmama said:

However, I once knew a young woman whose mom was a midwife.  She said her mom kept placentas the mothers didn't want and prepared them for the family. 

Pretty sure that if there's a line, that crossed it... yikes. 

[maize]

7 minutes ago, Dotwithaperiod said:

I thought most mammals did it as a way to keep any predators from smelling a vulnerable newborn.

 

Presumably they do it out of instinct; it's us humans who come up with interpretations of that.

[prairiewindmomma]

I have friends who have done it. I understand why they chose to do it.

I was asked during my middle kids deliveries if I wanted it. (Nope! Send it on to pathology and the incinerator, please!)

 

 

[maize]

30 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

OH THAT’S NOT COOL.  Nope.  Nooooope.  Hard pass.  Like; biohazard hard pass. Feeding it to someone else outside of a Donner Party situation is NO.

 

Interesting what sets off our gross-o-meter.

One of the chimpanzees in the article I linked upthread shared her baby's placenta with a few other chimps.

[Paige]

2 hours ago, klmama said:

I did not.  I don't even remember if I was given the option, but I wouldn't have taken them up on it, if they had offered.  Too much ick factor for me.

However, I once knew a young woman whose mom was a midwife.  She said her mom kept placentas the mothers didn't want and prepared them for the family.  I think she called it cheese, so maybe something like head cheese?  I was so horrified, I didn't ask questions.  

I think that's one of the nastiest things I've ever heard of regarding the birthing process.

[DesertBlossom]

3 hours ago, Dotwithaperiod said:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2018/02/15/celgene-spinout-celularity-raises-250-million-to-develop-placental-cells-to-attack-cancer/#1640479a732c

This reminds me a tiny bit of the Henrietta Lacks story: So it appears hospitals can either dispose of or sell your child’s placenta, and then company’s can perhaps make millions. 

They also sell infant foreskins. I know it's being used in cosmetics. 😦

[J-rap]

I think the most unusual body part I've ever saved was the part of the belly button that falls off your babies soon after birth.  I've saved each of my kids'.  I don't know whose is whose though, and I don't know why I saved them, but I still have them.  I didn't eat them or plant them!

My dd saved her tonsils in a jar about 15 years ago, and then promptly misplaced the jar somewhere in our house.  I'm assuming it'll show up when we move later this summer!

 

[rebcoola]

No I've never had a compelling reason to.  I know 1 person who did the capsules.  I  know many who plant the placenta.  My best friend had her baby born in caul  and the midwife had it dried or something and they kept it.