Early on in my pregnancy with you I knew I wanted to somehow keep your placenta. I regretted not keeping Octavio's, but at least I have a few pictures of his that Jen the doula took when he was born.
Last year for a class Daddy read a book about a Hmong family living in the US,
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. The Hmong bury their placentas so that the soul can find its way back home after death (so beautiful!).
Other cultures have other placenta rituals. Anyhoo, since I don't really feel like Boulder is "home" and since we live in an apartment complex, I didn't really want to bury your placenta here. Plus with all the dogs and other animals in Boulder your placenta would probably have been digged up and eaten in a day. So instead I got your placenta encapsulated in the Chinese medicine tradition. I was so happy your placenta could be encapsulated because the last time I saw a Chinese medicine doctor, he prescribed certain herbs but they had to be boiled in water first and I could barely drink them because they were so strong.
After you were born, the nurses checked your placenta to make sure everything was okay with it and then the midwife showed us the different parts of the placenta. Your placenta actually had an extra lobe and the amniotic sac was super strong, the midwife noted that I must have had a really good high protein diet while I was preggers (which I didn't). Anyhoo, they put the placenta in a plastic tupperware for us to take home. I emailed the doula that was going to encapsulate it and she happened to be at the hospital helping another Mama give birth so she came over to our hospital room and picked it up. She brought it to us (in pill form) a few days later.
 |
| She made us come placenta prints |
 |
| Placenta pills! |
 |
| I don't drink them with wine |
 |
| Your placenta made about 100 pills |
