Educational Series: Your amazing placenta!
The placenta is an organ that develops in the uterus during your pregnancy, and is the only organ that we grow, comes out by itself, and we throw away (usually)! Weighing in at 1 – 2 lbs., it is connected to the baby via the umbilical cord to allow for transfer of oxygen and nutrients to the baby, and it removes waste products from the baby’s blood. All this without letting the parent’s blood come into contact with the baby’s blood. Amazing!
A placenta can be attached to the side, the front, the back, or the top of the uterus, and occasionally it becomes attached at the bottom of the uterus. This may or may not present a problem since placentas can “migrate” up the wall of the uterus, away from the cervix as the pregnancy progresses and the uterus grows in size.
There are some people who want to keep their placenta after birth for ingestion, such as being cooked, dried, and put into capsules, to help stabilize their hormones and increase milk supply. Others want to eat the placenta raw, or put it into a smoothie or other liquids, or make dishes such as lasagna out of it. Anyone considering ingesting their placenta should research it well and make sure strict safety measures are taken when preparing and storing it.
Others make jewelry, art, or tee-shirts from the print of a placenta, or plant it under a new tree to honor their baby’s birth!