How Cooking Placenta Became Normal

How Cooking Placenta Became Normal – Part 1
Natasha Longridge, Doula, PES

My journey into placenta encapsulation was fairly straight forward. I had been introduced to the idea by my midwives while pregnant with my fourth child. I had experienced horrible postpartum depression with my 2nd and 3rd children, and I was looking into “non-traditional” ways to prevent and treat myself with this upcoming birth.
As anyone who has ever suffered postpartum depression can understand, the depression didn’t stop once my baby was a toddler; it carried its way through all aspects and many years of my life. I needed to find something, anything, which had the potential to “cure” all symptoms. Or, in the very least, make life bearable.
After researching the idea, and convincing me and my husband, that this placenta could be my cure, we decided to give it a go! After all, what could it do to make things worse! I got the various recipes; how to make placenta Shepard’s pie, great placenta spaghetti sauce and raw placenta smoothies along with the encapsulation steps. Reading about cooking it up with onions and chilli powder didn’t strike me as something I could do (I haven’t eaten red meat in decades). The thought of a raw organ drink curdled my stomach. So, here we are left with the task of the encapsulation process. Not bad I thought, just clean it, steam it, bake it, crush it, and put it into capsules. All a fairly painless process, how hard could this be!
May 13th 2007, we not only left the birth centre with our new beautiful daughter, but the organ that had sustained her for 9 precious months. Packed snuggly in the car seat was our daughter, and snugly in my purse (in a bio hazard bag), was the placenta. Once we got home, I was still on the adrenaline rush of having my baby, and I poked the placenta into the back of my fridge. Still not 100 percent sure I needed to cut up this recently birthed organ.
My daughter was a couple days old, when I had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind,” I need to be prepared!”. So, I decided, I’m going to cook my placenta. First though, I had to admire the beauty of this thing. The veins, the membranes, the shape, all in a perfect tree form. I could see the branches, feeling how each one pulsated life into my daughter. I was enthralled at how something so soft and delicate feeling, could be so phenomenally strong and capable of sustaining a child. And, how it can also give me the strength to have a positive outlook on my postpartum!
My husband helped me clean and prepare the organ. We did it in the kitchen sink, as I watched the blood pour from the veins, I felt a little squeamish, and could I really do this? Could I really consume part of my body? Striping off the remaining membranes, placing it into the steamer, I actually started to feel good. I am taking control of my life, my pain, and my future.
Placenta in a pot on the stove. Not an everyday occurrence in most households. The house began to smell like liver and iron. Very potent, and we had to open the windows, breathing new air into the house. It was perfect, the smell of placenta invigorated me, the fresh air awoken me. I was getting so excited at the idea that this may just work!
After the steaming was finished, we let the placenta cool enough to touch. I suddenly had my doubts back, this steamed dark chunk of meat was supposed to help me? It didn’t look overly promising. Kind of like boiled liver, smelly and disgusting really. But I pressed on, if this has worked for thousands of women before me, I was going to see it through. I cut it up, stuck it on a cookie sheet, and put it in the oven.
Eight hours later I was the proud owner of placenta jerky. Gives new meaning to “mom’s home cooking”. I had a little hand blender that my mother gave me for Christmas, she thought it would be nice for shakes and fruit smoothies for the kids. I gave it a new role. It took me about 45 minutes to crush and grind up the dried placenta strips.
Now I am ready to make my happy pills! I sat down at the kitchen table, with a little encapsulation machine, 200 capsules, and my new placenta powder. It wasn’t too hard really, put the capsules in the machine, put the powder in the capsules, put the caps on, start again. My 4 year old son sat beside me, passing me the caps, telling me my vitamins smelled funny. My husband took pictures of us while we completed the project.
Finally, my miracle was complete! I ended up with almost 200 pills! I kept them in the fridge, and took a couple a few times a day for the first 6 weeks or so of my postpartum. I can honestly say I felt wonderful. I had plenty of milk, my mood was impressive, and I could handle nights with limited sleep. I still had the over tired days, that kept me in pyjamas doing nothing but boob my baby and neglect house work. Although, I believe that every mother, even on her best day, needs a day or too like that. After all, at that time, what better excuse to sit around than to cuddle and nurse a new born.

(c) Natasha Longridge PES, Doula 2011