Written by Kayti Ricker, VP San Diego Birth Network

On a rainy night last week in Encinitas, Jenny West put little pinky-sized bits of recently birthed placenta into 4 plastic cups of apple juice and blended them with a little hand-blender.   Those of us who were willing to believe her claim, “You won’t taste it.  Really!  You don’t believe me, but you really can’t tell it’s in there!” took our first tentative sips as we peered into the forbidding cup of “tree of life,” still red and meaty, in our smoothies.  She was right.  I could not taste it.  All I could taste was the sweetness of apple juice.  I could see it, and feel a little stringy bit at the bottom, but it was enough to convince us that it wasn’t the craziest damn thing we ever did.

Over two long nights, a few of us took a course on Placental Encapsulation.  I had been half intrigued, half dismissive of the whole “Eat your placenta like a big piece of liver,” idea, and had broached the subject with my clients like, “ah, SOME people DO eat their placentas after birth, but most of MY clients just bury them under a new tree, or let them go.”  I mean really, I didn’t want to SCARE my poor new parents to be.  I was VERY CAREFUL not to upset my clients’ dispositions by even SUGGESTING that they should take this thing and fry it up with some onions and parsley.   I mean, really, nobody does this, right?

And then I had a homebirth client who had her placenta encapsulated, and she was beaming, even though her baby was the “not-sleeping type.”   And THEN Jenny West, the midwife from New Mexico was giving a workshop called Placenta Encapsulation right here in Encinitas and I just had to go.  Call it intrigue into the big mystery of the organic mass of pregnancy.

Turns out, women who ingest their placentas after birth get much energy back into their systems, and feel better.  They actually feel more energized.  They have more breastmilk, and they suffer much less from post-partum blues and depression (maybe even ZERO ppd).  AND, (wait for it…) it actually can help with MENOPAUSE.  Holy Mother.  “Bio-Identical” takes on a whole new meaning!  Half the encapsulated pills are saved for MENOPAUSE, to replace the hormones the body is losing.  In other words, there’s something in those rich red veins that puts something back IN when life has taken so much!!!  We don’t know for sure what it is, because apparently medical science hasn’t really looked into this too much yet,  but whatever it is:  hormones?  life-energy?  nutrients?  baby goo? It means momma’s happy.  “And when mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

So now I’m sold on Placentas.  One of my clients had donated her placenta to be encapsulated during our workshop, and a week later told me she thought it might have helped.  She said, “I’m not sure, but I think I have more energy.   It might be a placebo effect, but I don’t care.  I just wanted to feel better.”  (She was driving her car around town, and to me, she sounded COMPLETELY different than she had a week earlier.  She had energy in her voice.)  She said, “I really didn’t care about anything a week ago.  I didn’t want to see anyone, or do anything.  And now, I’m starting to want to see my friends, and do some things.  So that’s good.” 

I think women should ingest some of their placentas right after birth, raw*, (a pinky’s worth, okay, not a hunk of meat) and do some more raw in the days following birth, and then have most of it encapsulated.  It’s that good for you.  It’s that miraculous, magical, mammal, mundane, organ which sustained life inside the body, and is MEANT for the mother mammal to eat after the child is born to restore HER energy and to protect her from U.S. society’s incessant intrusions after birth.  They are the visits to the pediatrician, the many calls from well-meaning friends, the stay in the hospital, the running-around to get things, and the lack of community around the new (or renewed) family that make women tired.  It’s the superwoman image and lack of understanding about the need for rest and total support post-partum.  But that’s another article.  Eat your placentas.  See for yourself.  What have you got to lose?

*Placenta eaten raw after birth can stop a hemorrhage.  Tell your doctor.

In my first year of being a birth doula, I had this client. She desperately wanted a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section). She told me how in her first birth that she was in labor for hours. Waters broken, Pitocin, epidural, tubes and wires coming from every direction. During her extremely long ordeal the only change to her cervix was the effacement (the thinning of the cervix). Her cervix never opened at all. I assumed at the time that this was because her baby was just not ready to come out. This time could and would be different. She would wait for labor to start. We would stay at home and labor where she was comfortable. When the day came, that is exactly what she did. Her labor seemed to be moving right along. When we got to the hospital I expected they would tell her that she was 4-5 cms. Instead what we got was, 100% effaced but only a finger tip dilated. I think I may have even gasped out loud. I immediately started beating myself up in my head. How could I have read her labor so wrong? 6 more hours would pass with her, her husband and I working hard. Moving from the birth ball to the shower and I swear every inch of that hospital room in between. After 6 hours, still a finger tip dilated. Obviously there is something wrong with her cervix, but what. No one seemed to know. Not the two different nurses that we had the pleasure of getting to know or the doctor who we saw just once when he was coming to explain that she would be having yet another c-section. This is one of those moments in my career that I really wish I knew then what I know now.

I have never stopped thinking of her. There has always been this part of me that wanted to call her and say “I know what it is now, can you have another baby so we can fix it?” I just know this would not make her feel any better. Instead, I keep her close to me whenever I ask the question now during each and every prenatal visit, “Have you ever had any procedures done to your cervix?” Every single birth professional that is assisting clients should be asking this question.

Look, I’m not a scientist, researcher, doctor and anything else that would know how to study this stuff. What I am is a doula that has had the pleasure of attending over 100 births. I know that the client I mentioned above was not the only one who had a c-section because of scar tissue during my earlier days. I can look back and think of all the clients that seemed to be in transition (7-10 cms) but when checked were still only 4cm. Stuck there for hours and hours. Then wondering for days after their c-section if there was something I could have done differently to help.

A New Day!

The day that changed my life as a doula forever, my very own sister was having a baby. She was having her second baby. I told her how great it would be and it would be so much faster than her first. When she started having surges just a few days before her due date, we were excited. I went to her home (3 hrs away) and stayed the whole weekend. She had surges off and on all weekend but nothing really steady. I went home after three days and decided that maybe my being there was freaking her out. For the next week, she had surges every day. I kept telling her it was going to be great. All this work would get her cervix open slowly and gently.  Then she visited her midwife. She was just a finger tip dilated. I chalk this up to my sister being a big drama queen. All the surges have been Braxton Hicks! The next weekend comes and I find myself making the drive because this time her water broke. Now we know this baby is coming. She has mild labor, 7 minutes apart for 16 hours. Nothing is changing. I suggest we head in. Something is just not right. We get to the hospital and a different midwife she has never met comes to check her. 100% effaced but only a finger tip dilated. What?! Are you kidding me?! Then the words that changed my life. “Have you even had any procedures done to your cervix?” My sister says “yes, I had cryo surgery done a couple of years ago to remove pre cancer cells”. Midwife “ok well that makes sense, you have scar tissue on your cervix, and I can feel it.” Huh? Scar tissue on the cervix? Why had I never heard of this? My client from before comes rushing back to my head. Of course! The midwife proceeds to explain to my sister that she is going to try and massage the cervix and break the scar up. With some discomfort for my sister, she went from a finger tip dilated to 3 cms in a matter of minutes. An hour later she was 4 cms and an hour after that my nephew was born. Once the scar tissue had completely released, she flew to 10 cms.

As you can imagine, I asked that Midwife a ton of questions. I wanted to know all I could about this scar tissue stuff. Besides “massaging”, what can you do before hand? She shared her knowledge with me. Told me that HPV is so very common and more and more women are having these  standard procedures done, but are never informed that it most likely will leave scar tissue. Although less common, this includes women who have ever had a D & C after a miscarriage or abortion.

Once I was armed with the knowledge, my successful VBAC rate shot up as did my vaginal birth rate in general. I would ask the question and if the answer was yes, I would tell them what I knew. I would suggest that they mention it to their doctor so that if anything came up during labor, would he or she be willing to massage the cervix. Also I learned from that Midwife that evening primrose oil taken orally and vaginally would help break up the scar tissue before labor. (Orally taken the entire pregnancy and vaginally each night only after 36 weeks).

Since this very important day 3 1/2 years ago, I know I have prevented c-sections. Several times in the hospital I have asked the doctor to please, when he is checking mama to feel for scar tissue.  Almost every time the doctor has said “oh yeah, I feel some sort of knot here” or some other variation of that statement. This then leads to a question of; can you try and rub it out?

Why Doctors aren’t talking about this is beyond me. I honestly think they don’t know that it is an issue. I don’t believe it is something they are being taught in medical school. We all need to start talking about it because unless women are being asked the question, they just don’t know.

Written by: Doula Dawn Thompson

San Diego Birth Network is a group of dedicated professionals that support mothers, babies, and families during the prenatal, birth and postpartum period. Pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period are milestone events in the continuum of life. These experiences profoundly affect women, babies, fathers, and families, and have important and long-lasting effects on society.Our mission is to create a place that allows families the confidence that the professionals listed believe in the normalcy of the birthing process and empower families with knowledge so that they can make educated decisions about their care.