My placentophagy journey

After birth eating a small piece of placenta (the size of a thumb tip) is said to have great benefits. Number one immediate affect is it stops hemmoraghing. You can even put a piece of the placenta to your lips, hold under your tounge or to the roof of your mouth and even that will give you strong results. It is strongly suggested that eating some of your placenta will treat and prevent postpartum depression, stop lochia bleeding much faster and milk will come in very fast (Most I read said milk came in the next day after birth). Others said they got to keep the pregnancy glow, lush shiny hair and never got dry skin postpartum. I think the benefits outway the "gross factor". I have read a bunch of personal stories about this (at * http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=225844&page=1&pp=20 ) and I heard nothing but great things about thier experience. They talked of the immediate effects once it touches thier lips. I admit I had a twinge of "ew gross" when I first read about placentophagy, but I kept reading and I was convinced after about 2 minutes that it was something I defintly wanted to do. I told Travess about this and his response was "awesome"! He even wanted to know if there were any benefits for him if he ate it (none that I have found so far). I am genuinely excited about trying this. I will be eating a couple small pieces of the placenta after birth (yes raw). Then I will make a few fruit smoothies for a couple days after birth (still raw). With the remaining I will be drying it out and encapsulating them for later use. They say to keep some for when your children go through milestones, like teething, learning to walk, puberty, and menopause. If you would like to read more you can check out these links: http://www.birthrites.org/placent.html http://www.geocities.com/virtualbirth/placenta.html http://www.unhinderedliving.com/placentaessence.html *I found the most helpful site was the discussion at mothering.com (see link posted above). Now before you say you would want more evidence and research about this, think about who is going to pay for this research. Unless a big corporation is going to benefit from this they will not research. Also for people who are vegetarians, this is the only piece of meat that has given life and did not die . Also herbavore animals also eat thier placentas. (not trying to convince you, just the opinion of other vegetarians who decided to do this) :) If you want to give me all kinds of excuses about not wanting to do this, then so be it. I'm not forcing you to do it. But its a choice I have made. And I just wanted to share that with you all. :D I'm becoming crunchier and crunchier as the days go by. :) 

Here I am eating the placenta right after birth:
 
This is my doula and Hubby preparing the placenta the day after while I was nursing:
 
Placeta about to be steamed:

After steaming:

Getting prepared to be cut up into small "jerky" pieces:

After being baked in the oven for a couple hours:

Ground up and ready to encapsulate:
 
I have only taken one capsule thus far. I think eating the 2 small thumbnail size pieces raw after birth did a world of a differance.