I first met Stephanie when she was pregnant with her first baby. After delivery, she was taking these dark capsules at home and informed me that they were her placenta.
I thought she had lost her damn mind. Who the heck eats one of their own organs? That is weird man!
Fast forward a few years and I’m pregnant with my first baby. The wave of emotions from pregnancy hormones had me wondering how I would feel postpartum. I had suffered from PMS symptoms over the years. Not severe but noticeable. Things like crying at a random commercial or being annoyed with my husband for trivial things. Then you get your period and you’re like, “ohhhhh. Makes sense.” My sister had just had a baby 5 months prior and she had done placenta encapsulation. She told me about the benefits of doing encapsulation: better hormone balance, increased energy, milk comes in faster. I found myself wondering maybe if I should do this? I casually mentioned it to my husband who offered to pay for it, even jokingly saying “anything to make you less crazy…errr I mean calmer when the baby gets here, the better!”
I contacted Stephanie who offers this service. She sent me the online consent form and I Venmo’d her the fee. Easy peezy. The cost was less than I expected! She just advised me to let her know when labor is started or give her an idea so she can come pick up the placenta. I think I texted her when we were going to the hospital but I’m not sure I remember the details that well! Twenty two hours of labor and a csection later, Stephanie came to pick up the placenta. I remember her walking in the room and I was exhausted from the day. Her calm presence warmly lit the room as she held my hand and listened to me recount Eddie’s birth story.
She sent me a photo of my “tree of life” shortly after that.
And a couple days later, she was at my home with a jar of pills and written instructions. This really was the easiest process! In hindsight, it was the best decision I made through this whole pregnancy. I’m an ER nurse, from a very western medicine background. Placenta encapsulation felt very “voodoo” or even placebo to me previously. However, I noticed a significant difference in how my milk came in after I started taking them. I also felt almost a “natural high” feeling. I attribute this to the increase in oxytocin that the placenta pills offers. My energy was higher and in general, I just felt really really good!
I must also touch on the personal aspect from Stephanie. She has been an acquaintance, turned friend over the years. I have a supportive husband, a wonderful family and thought I had enough people in my corner to help me weather the new mama storm. But everyone’s birth story, baby and postpartum experience is different. I was experiencing some trouble with breastfeeding, my nipple had started bleeding and I wasn’t sure how to proceed. My mother didn’t breastfeed, and my sister didn’t experience nipple trauma with her son. Stephanie had text me a general, “How are you doing?” message and I informed her of the trouble I was having. She offered to call one of her lactation specialist friends who called me back quickly. I felt like any hiccups I experienced in the postpartum phase, Stephanie had a listening ear, a resource, empathy for the process and general mama-to-mama love. The postpartum phase is peppered with physical pain, hormones, emotions, love, happiness, frustration, anxiety, interpersonal conflict, hunger, insomnia… and the list goes on! You NEED someone in your corner. More than you ever have before. My husband is amazingly supportive, kind and generous. But he never would be able to “get it” like another mom would. Not to mention, there’s a never ending list of “Is this normal?!” Movies and television have distorted our view of the postpartum phase. You think labor is this nice normal progression of symptoms, then the kid comes out and goes right on your boob and sucks and you go home to a sweet swaddling newborn that photographs beautifully. In reality, there are thousands, if not millions of possibilities of how your labor, recovery, feeding, newborn health will go.
You NEED someone to support you emotionally, physically, translate the confusion and advocate for you. Stephanie can do that. She has enough of her own experience with the passion for childbirth that you want in a doula or coach. She changed my postpartum experience!
-Char Hanson
