Thanks to Taming Flamingoes, it does!
I met the author way back at the Gentle Birth World Expo in 2007, my first booth for Placenta Benefits ever. That was quite an experience – doulas and midwives were enthusiastic; pregnant mamas would take one look and move to the opposite side of the aisle, turning their bellies away to protect their unborn placentas from my onslaught (which, in my mind was a cheery smile and colorful brochure, but perception is everything).
But one lady came right up to me sporting her big beautiful belly and asked me what “this placenta thing” was all about. She had me laughing within moments, and this brief meeting turned into a major collaboration as I went back to Las Vegas and she stayed in Vancouver, WA, trying to make sure the hospital would release the placenta to her once it was born. It was not an easy path for her, but she was undaunted. She found all the pertinent laws, and the hospital caved. She went home with her baby *and* the placenta, and she shares her story in a fabulous post on her blog, Placenta: Eat it or weep.
Being devoid of blood-borne pathogens and full of determination, I won my game of Pass the Placenta.
“Viva la revolucion!” declared PlacentaLady when I emailed her the good news.
Less than 24 hours after German’s birth, I took a handful of my carefully prepared placenta, which was steamed, dehydrated, ground and encapsulated.
Returning home, I couldn’t believe the difference my placenta ingestion made. Night and day.
Here I was, fresh from an unmedicated vaginal birth, at home alone with a frenzied toddler reveling in her new place as Big Sister.
And Little Brother, nestled asleep inside a Moby Wrap, was along for the ride as I read Caribou stories, picked up toys, made dinner and vacuumed.
Puke in your coffee if you like, but my postpartum experience was a whole lot more humane after eating my placenta.
My milk came in without a hitch, my energy level was semi-bionic and best of all, I finally discovered the warm maternal joy I’d only seen in ads. Heck, I even took showers every day without a stitch of guilt.
But if it sounds too strange, and you like to entertain the tantalizing possibility of roaming a desolate postpartum wasteland filled with only with monotony and sadness, you have a friend in the camel.
Poor, sad camel.
This woman is seriously funny, and worth reading. She said she was going to be writing about her placenta experience, so I pulled up her blog last night to have a look. I read for almost an hour, laughing out loud several times. Not the greatest, since I was trying to get the baby to sleep at the time! But totally worth it. Thanks Taming Flamingoes, for the chuckles!