I ate my placenta. No, I didn’t deep fry it and serve it for dinner, but I ingested it and am a firm believer in its magic powers.
I became familiar with placenta encapsulation through a Doula friend of mine. After my first birth where I struggled with breastfeeding and a case of the baby blues, the prospect of a natural supplement that could help replenish lost nutrients, shorten the lochia period, balance hormones, boost energy and milk production was mega appealing. Sure, there’s something kinda yucky about the idea of consuming one of your own organs, but the truth is that most mammals do it. I set my immature squeamishness aside and decided this was something I would like to do.
The Doula I hired for my second birth, Amanda, only does raw prep smoothies, which is a little too hardcore for me, so she recommended that I contact another local Doula, Joli, about encapsulation. Joli drove to my home, picked up my placenta and delivered ninety-one pills a few days later. The process involved dehydrating my placenta before grinding it into a fine powder, which she placed into capsules.
I took four per day until they ran out. Within the first twenty-four hours, I noticed a difference in both my energy level and milk production. In the following week my bleeding lessened significantly. Best of all: no baby blues. That was more than enough to make a believer out of me.
