I had a wonderful time at the Expo. So many months of planning went into it that it’s hard to believe it is already over. I had a pretty good reaction, considering this was the first time most people had ever heard about placenta encapsulation. If I could get them to listen for just a couple of minutes, I could see that they realized it made a lot of sense. If I opened minds to the possibility that this epidemic of the “baby blues” is unnecessary, and maybe helped a couple of women avoid that experience, then it was worth it.
It was a lot of fun to meet other women who are huge placenta advocates. There are many others out there who offer some form of placenta encapsulation – many are doulas or midwives who prepare the placenta for their clients. Hearing that they support my efforts to spread this knowledge to a larger audience was very encouraging. I unveiled my plans to launch a training and certification program to create a network of encapsulation specialists trained in the PBi method of encapsulation, and it was received with much enthusiasm. I am excited about that and will be posting more about it soon.
It was quite an experience to be among the biggest names in the natural birthing community. Barbara Harper is amazing woman and has made such advances for women and babies in this country. I had the chance to visit with Cornelia Enning, a major pioneer in the use of placenta for wellness. I hear she will be spearheading a major workshop on placenta in Germany next year, and her book will be translated from German and published later this year. I look forward to reading it. I also spoke with Dr. Sarah Buckley, who also understands the importance of the placenta and its connection to the baby. I bought a copy of her book, Gentle Birth Gentle Mothering, which she was kind enough to sign for me. She also cheerfully posed for a photo with me in the PBi booth.
I also had the opportunity to screen Ricki Lake’s movie, The Business of Being Born. Wow. Ricki Lake did not strike me as a person who would go out on a limb to promote homebirth, midwives, natural birth, or highlight the crisis of medicalized birthing that is happening in our country today. But she has put together an incredible documentary doing just that. This movie is awesome, and presents the information in a non-judgemental way that I think the majority of women in this country will be able to relate to and identify with. Go Ricki!
