I Regret Eating My Placenta

Or perhaps a Doritos taco from Taco Bell.

see now there's a way to eat placenta

7-layer dip! now we're talking

J, if there were studies showing it were harmful then I'd agree with you. I am generally all for evidence-based health practices and outright reject things without hard science behind them. However, I think there's a high probability that the lack of studies on the topic are related to the poor way in which women's health related issues have been handled and been given the shaft historically (nevermind non-traditional women's health practices) and that's not OK. For that reason alone, and until there is scientific evidence to the contrary, I'm willing to support a woman's choice to chow down on as much of her homemade placenta as she damn well pleases without condeming that choice.

lol I don't know about in the woods but there's definitely a whole unassisted childbirth movement which, yes, is a wholle other topic and something I don't understand either.

this lotus thing seems bad in that banking stem cells from the umbilical cord is known to be a good thing and you lose that possibility, other than that, feel free to run around with whatever stuff attached to you that you want

But I'm not going to come over and see the baby until that thing detaches and you air out the house.

"homemade placenta" somehow manages to be the most sinister phrase on this thread

I would imagine etsy has something to say about that

I prefer takeout placenta tbqh

BTW, my mom's first comment when I explained this article and that it involved placenta dried and ground up and put in capsules was, "That sounds expensive!"

otm, mom. otm.

Oh, and just so it's clear and nobody assumes I think otherwise, people who don't vaccinate their kids make me irrationally angry. I don't even read that thread anymore because I can't handle it.

fwiw, I am pro-breastfeeding, think circumcision is unnecessary in the western world unless for a legitimate medical need or religious prescription but not all that harmful, and there are too many unnecessary c-sections

Well you are correct in all those beliefs. Imo, of course.

I don't think any of those things are really that controversial anymore though I guess most Americans still choose to circumsize boy babies? Be interesting to know what rates for that are now, actually.

fwiw I wouldn't criticize anyone for doing the opposite on any of those, though. there are just some issues where both sides fall well within norms. people do get up in arms about all of these!`

I wouldn't criticize anyone for doing the opposite of them either in most situations.

I was kind of taken aback last year when I visited my friends in the hospital with their newborn and they said something to the effect of "Yeah, I kind of wish they'd advised me to walk around a while or squat more before advising me to get a c-section, in retrospect, but on the other hand he's a really big baby"

Yeah well, sounds pretty typical tbh.

and at six months, he's 20 pounds and 28" long

hell of a placenta

guys i totally understand on some level that birth is a huge spiritual event and there is a deep inherited human response to that, and to treat the birth and afterbirth as magical events. plus there's blood! blood magic is strong magic. from that level placentaphagy and lotus birthing are comprehensible -- as is the recent practice of banking umbilical blood for its magical medical properties. precious, precious is the blood!

but otoh! there is also a v understandable human sense of uneasiness with all that blood and flesh and gore and a weird sense of taboo around. i personally look on the miracle of childbirth as a crazy horrorshow and that definitely informs my response to the stuff ppl are doing with placentae. thank god midwives exist and are happy to aid and revel in its visceral mysteries, because i could. not. handle it.

I'm about to be in the middle of this, because I am assisting the midwife in delivering our baby, which at first seemed crazy to be because I have no training or knowledge of childbirth at all. But the midwife assured us that in the event of something going wrong or something that I can't handle that she and her assistant will be their the handle anything and a hospital is 5 minutes away. We were told the baby will be coming in probably 10 days so I'll see just how strong I am to help bring the baby into the whole. Weirdly enough, I'm not freaked out or nervous at all. I do understand why people see the placenta as being more than merely afterbirth, I do, but most important to me is our baby. I just don't want to dispose of the placenta in a trash can and treat it as if it's waste. I'd rather be a little symbolic about it and have something else be born from it, like a tree.

I can totally see that, sounds pretty cool.

Is it even legal to throw in a garbage can, or does it count as medical material and have to be taken somewhere?

I like the idea of a tree. Rose bush would be good, they go NUTSO with a bit of good compost.

If i get pregnant I'm going to throw my placenta on the ice after a Blackhawks game.

I'm not sure anyone would notice tbh

I would so buy a ticket for that

I regret eating your placenta.

Toews would dive for it and gobble it up. Or put it in the Stanley Cup for later.

Lotus birth is fine by me if you carry the placenta around in the Stanley Cup.

lol

or drive it around with you in a Lotus

God hates placentaphags!

Winner.

don't get stuck holding the placentabag

btw guys wharton's jelly sounds delicious... placenta butter and wharton's jelly sandwich... mmm

In case anyone wants to check out some stories/pics. They're definitely interesting.

http://www.naturalfamilyco.com/graphics/LotusBirthGallery.pdf
http://eleanorsuc.blogspot.com.au/2010/12/her-lotus-birth.html

I wouldn't circumsize anyone for doing the opposite of them either in most situations.
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Tuesday, 3 April 2012 19:55 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

was what i read

Animals also eat the placenta because leaving a big plop of raw meat lying around is a great way to attract predators when you have vulnerable newborns. Unless there's a pack of dingoes in your maternity ward, this does not really apply to humans.

there could be foodies around who are after some raw food

just dipping into this surprisingly long-lasting thread i can only say that Jeff is otm

if you're hungry, eat it, i say.
there are people dying of starvation in africa and you guys are throwing out your placentas as if it's medical waste. shame on you

do they know it's christmas?

maybe if you dry it out and wrap it up in cheesecloth you can stealth it in as christmas pudding the following year

The lotus birth thing seems so complicated and high maintenance.

making sure it doesn't stink is pretty much your main priority for the next, what, twelve days?

I haven't read this thread at all, but several CHILXors (me, n/a, J5ss5, and courtnoodle) won a pub quiz tonight with this thread title as our team name.

!!!!!

hooray!

It has brought fortune to us all.

waht is a courtnoodle

placenta: the gift that keeps on giving

courtnoodle is a lovely chicagoan and mostly-lurker on ilx