You did WHAT with your placenta??

Dear World,
After my birth experience, the thing people seem the most curious about is the placenta service I used. Placentophagy (eating your placenta) is actually growing in popularity among women in the United States. While it may seem unsavory, it is theorized that there are many benefits to hanging on to that fascinating organ that nourished your baby for nine months.
Here is my experience:
Research stage- The first question to come up when discussing my placenta consumption is always "WHY?" I'm a total dork about researching stuff as much as possible. When considering the placenta service, I first wanted to know about the benefits for me. I looked over the information provided on the website of our local placenta encapsulation specialist, and found that the biggest reason to take the capsules is for hormone regulation and to avoid postpartum depression. Seeing as I have a hormone disorder (PCOS), I thought this was a fantastic idea! Who needs crazy mood swings when you have a newborn to take care of? Not me. I was also secretly hoping this might help regulate the cysts that will inevitably crop up when I'm not taking birth control pills and/or Metformin. Anyway, the most popular way to consume the placenta nowadays is by dehydrating it, grinding it up, and putting it into little capsules. So you basically pop a pill with dried out placenta in it. This doesn't really seem so bad, when compared to cooking it up or even eating it raw.
However, after browsing some message boards, I saw that sometimes people add herbs to the capsules, which could cause a bad reaction. I made sure to ask my service provider about this, and she assured me that it is 100% placenta in there-- no additives! Awesome. If you are considering this for yourself, make sure you ask your provider about it, as you don't want any surprises!
If you would like to do your own reading about the benefits of placentophagy, I strongly suggest visiting this website, especially if you live in the coastal areas of NC and SC (specifically Myrtle Beach, Wilmington, Jacksonville, and Greenville): Placenta Works

Birth stage- You know about birth. A baby comes out. Then a placenta does too. The umbilical cord is cut and typically the placenta is disposed of by the hospital as bio-hazardous waste. So when you get to the hospital and forgot your birth plan (oops), make sure you look at all the nurses with your best Captain Crazy look and ask that they please release custody of the placenta to you. Then smile sweetly.
If your nurses aren't grossed out by that request (big IF here), then they might even be cool enough to put the placenta in the 1 gallon Ziplock bags you brought. (Double bagged, in case you were wondering.) However, my nurses were busy helping me breastfeed, so my mom got stuck bagging the placenta. It's a true testament to a mother's love, because she was SUPER grossed out by this. Anyway, after the placenta is bagged, you get some ice for your cooler (our hospital conveniently had an ice machine), and send someone home with the placenta the same day.

Placenta Preparation/ All the cool stuff you get: Our placenta service was done by Nicole Havelka, who is also a doula. She is a member of Cape Fear Area Doulas, and her bio can be found on their website here: Cape Fear Area Doulas
Nicole came to our house the day after I gave birth and prepared the placenta into the following products:

• Smoothie: A walnut sized chunk of the raw placenta is blended into a fruit smoothie. You have to get the ingredients for the smoothie in advance and keep it in your kitchen. Mine had frozen berries, frozen banana, yogurt and juice. The smoothie was brought to me immediately, and I drank it that night. The next morning, my milk came in. So that's giving birth by cesarean section Thursday night, and milk coming in Saturday morning. (Less than 48 hours.) Evidently that's almost unheard of and I'm pretty sure the lactation consultant didn't believe me when I first told her that. I attribute this phenomenon to the placenta smoothie, although of course there's no way to really prove it.
• Capsules: These were also brought to me as soon as they were finished. I take about one  a day, and if I'm super tired or moody, I take two. I am 6 weeks postpartum right now, and I have only felt the need to take more than one on two occasions so far. One day I forgot to take my pill altogether, and I was really tired and snapped at my husband more than usual. Oops. 

This is what a placenta capsule looks like.

This is the cute jar my capsules are in!

• Salve: I haven't really needed to use this much, but it is basically a shea butter/dried placenta concoction that you can use to treat skin issues. I have used it on my baby's tushie twice for diaper rash, and it seems to clear it right up! It comes in a very small container, but a little goes a long way. I am glad to have it on hand.

• Mother's broth: I ended up throwing this out. You are supposed to freeze it within three days, but I was out of my house for longer than that, so it was "expired" by the time I got home. When frozen into ice cubes, it can last indefinitely and give you benefits similar to the capsules, meaning it may come in handy for a mood-swingy day. 
• Tincture: There is a jar in my cupboard with a chunk of my raw placenta being preserved by vodka. It looks kind of like something you'd see in a mad scientist's laboratory. I haven't really read about what I can do with it, but I'd imagine it is similar to the broth. It came with an eye dropper thing, so I guess I can put drops of the liquid into a drink and reap the benefits. I am also under the impression that this one lasts indefinitely.

 My conclusion: Overall, I found this to be a very worthwhile investment in my sanity. I feel relatively energetic and pretty happy. I am recovering from a birth experience that didn't go the way I wanted, but I am able to look at what did go well and be thankful for it. I think that is a very difficult hurdle for many, and I like to think that the placenta consumption has helped me with that. Now, even though I don't have the super mood swings, I do think my PCOS is not responding to the capsules the way I was hoping. (I haven't found any research about it, so consider this a preliminary study for the rest of you.) 

So there it is, guys. That's all I know about placentophagy through my own experience. I hope this was helpful information for you if you are considering the service for yourself or a loved one.

Love,

Steph

 (Disclaimer: I am NOT affiliated with the medical field at all. This information should not be used to diagnose or treat anything, ever.)