# where do the placentas go?



## plum (Mar 7, 2003)

what does hospitals do with placentas? i read somewhere in passing that they are sold. to who and why?

in that case, one should be able to take theirs, right? if you did, what did you do with it?


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## Evergreen (Nov 6, 2002)

I have heard that they are considered medical waste and are disposed of, but I can not imagine them not letting one take her own placenta! I am sure they don't get asked for it very often, though.

My neighbor had her baby in the hospital and wanted to save her placenta to plant a tree over, so her midwife and I helped her smuggle it out. I was in labor at the time, it was pretty cool.


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## rainbowmoon (Oct 17, 2003)

We kept our placenta and are going to be planting rosebushes with it soon in a private ceremony. I had an unexpected c/s and almost forgot about it but my MW told my dr. we wanted to keep it and she packaged it up nicely for us. no one said a thing about it and it sat in our room on ice for 3 days, as DH kept forgetting to take it home, now its in the freezer awaiting planting.

on another note I have known quite a few mamas who have made placenta prints or cooked & eaten thier placentas and in some countries it is even common to char it and grind it up to sprinkle on your food.

i hear iit also could be used as a homeopathic remedy for hemmoraging. (you would snip a small piece off and put it under your tounge-supposedly it tastes like sucking blood from a cut)


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## plum (Mar 7, 2003)

i've been thinking about that today and i think with the next baby, i will keep the placenta. i wish i had thought of that sooner.

why eat it? i think i'd bury mine (ours?) under a tree. i do like that rosebush idea, though.


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## water (May 15, 2003)

My ds's is um...still in the freezer, 32 months later!









And since I'm having a second baby soon, there will be another one to keep in the freezer until we actually manage to do something with it! It takes up like half the space!

Next time I might try eating it though, it's supposed to be good for preventing PPD, and I need all the help I can get! :LOL


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

In some hospitals, they sell them for testing.

For couples that dont' want to keep theirs, I donate mine to the local Search & Rescue teams to train their dogs. They really appreciate them!


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## HeidiJ (Jan 31, 2004)

I've heard that if you use it to plant something, you should put it in the ground 1 year before you plant something over it or e,se there are too many nutriants and it will kill the plant. Just what I read somewhere (pregnancy.about.com maybe...)


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## citizenfong (Dec 24, 2002)

Quote:

_Originally posted by pamamidwife_
*In some hospitals, they sell them for testing.

For couples that dont' want to keep theirs, I donate mine to the local Search & Rescue teams to train their dogs. They really appreciate them!*
Hey, Pam, I knew someone had posted this before...I knew I wasn't making it up! How do I go about doing this? Dh and I have laughed about calling up the fire department and saying, "Hey! I got this here placenta...y'all want it?"

This seems like a good idea to me. We rent and frankly aren't THAT crunchy. :LOL Plus, seems like a pretty good cause to donate to. Wonder if we could write it off on our taxes? How much is a used placenta worth.









As to the OP, I think many hospitals around here incinerate them. And I've never heard of anyone being refused their placenta to take home if they asked.


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## stafl (Jul 1, 2002)

DD1's placenta was incinerated as "biohazardous waste" (I asked, and it is in the pathologists report). As a "biohazard" they cannot let you take it home with you (that's what I was told, anyway).

DD2's placenta was eaten. The cord and membranes are still in my freezer, waiting to be planted near my garden.
Like with manure, it is too "hot" to plant directly with something, needs to be a foot away or composted first.

Why eat it? Well... lessens hormonal imbalance and all the things that go along with it (ppd, hair loss, dry skin, mood swings), brings milk in sooner, lessens uterine bleeding... so many reasons I can't think of them all right now. http://birthrites.edsite.com.au/placent.html


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## kids'ncows (Jan 23, 2004)

WOW! I didn't know women actually ate their placentas, that makes me feel a little less strange. My dd was born in the wee hours of the morning at a hospital and the nurse could only scrounge up a really weak turkey sandwich. I was starving and really wanted some red meat! I told dh if I could find a grill or a skillet and stove, I'd cook that placenta up and eat it - no problem. I thought I only got that idea because cows (and some other critters) eat their placentas. I think it's a twofold deal for the animals - less stuff to attract predators and some nutritional value. Maybe there's some latent instinct in us to do it too?

Hmmm, I might consider eating it this time around but I'm afraid dh would never kiss me again if he knew that went in my mouth. He's so not into exotic foods


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

I kept ds' placenta. We lived in CA at the time and knew we wouldn't be there forever, so we just kept it in the freezer. We moved it with us to CO, and when we bought our house, we planted it under a tree. We're planning to do the same with the next baby's placenta. I'd like to have at least 3 kids (total), and we're about to launch into some *major* landscaping projects... we just need to remember to leave a few places for the placenta trees yet to come.









I can't report on how the tree's doing yet, because it was planted in the fall. But our soil is pretty crappy, and the tree is going to be pretty big (it's a catalpa). So I'm not too worried that it will get burned.


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by citizenfong_
*Hey, Pam, I knew someone had posted this before...I knew I wasn't making it up! How do I go about doing this? Dh and I have laughed about calling up the fire department and saying, "Hey! I got this here placenta...y'all want it?"*

Call the local sherriff's office. Ask for their search & rescue team manager.


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## tabitha (Sep 10, 2002)

if anyone told you you could not have your placenta, they were lying to you.

all you do is sign a simple paper.

we have our still from ds's birth (we rent and have no real place to plant it... who knows what we'll end up doing with it.)

a lot of women eat their placenta. it is not a modern thing, rather a rich tradition handed to us by our mammal relatives. it is not uncommon in asian countries and europe even today. i have posted my reasons for planning to eat mine (in june) over & over so ill just link you to my web log if thats ok :LOL

http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?tab=w...y&uid=59970406

tabitha


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## Carol_momof3 (Dec 4, 2003)

When I had my DS, they told us that they (the hospital) sold them to cosmetic companies to make things out of (EWWWW!!!)







Doubly glad I don't wear make up now, lol. You should definitely have a right to keep yours if you so choose.


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## Soogie (Feb 7, 2002)

I also have donated one placenta to a local Search & Rescue team. My Bradley instructor's brother was the team leader and welcomed all the donations. I have another placenta in my freezer. It has been moved once and is about to be moved again. My hubby thinks I'm strange for toting it around from place to place. But when we are settled once and for all, I will bury it and plant a tree.

Susan


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## Soogie (Feb 7, 2002)

"When I had my DS, they told us that they (the hospital) sold them to cosmetic companies to make things out of (EWWWW!!!)"

I have seen placenta listed as an ingredient on some upscale shampoos.

Susan


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## Greaseball (Feb 1, 2002)

My hospital asked if I wanted to keep mine. I didn't know what I'd do with it, so I declined. This time I'm planning to eat it, or at least take a bite. (Dh doesn't think I'll do it!







)

I hear it's standard procedure to give them to the pathology lab for routine studies, then they get tossed. Maybe some hospitals won't let you have it at all.








T
I hear that most hospitals have a rule of "If we remove it from your body, it's our property." (I guess this does not apply to babies, though some hospitals make you wonder, the way they take them away when they want and make rules about how and when they can be fed!) But if you get your arm amputated there is no way you're taking it home with you. Though I'd like to see that rule changed...

The rule also affects women who miscarry. They want the fetal remains for a memorial service; the hospital puts them in the incinerator.


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## firefly (Jun 2, 2002)

I also planted my ds's placenta. We buried it at my mother's house-under her flower garden. I too was worried that it would be put into shampoo. The idea of eating the placenta is very interesting to me. I know that I could not stomach eating it cooked. I have heard that some women dry it and then crush it up into pill containers. They then take it once a day-like a vitamin. If anyone has any detailed info about how to do this, I would love to hear it.


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## love2all (Dec 13, 2003)

DD's placenta was thrown into the Atlantic Ocean in a prayful way to commemorate a friend who drown a few days after dd's birth. I suppose it became nourishing food for some fishes-- that what I like to think.
DS's stayed in the freezer for a loooooooong time, then when we moved and had to clean out the freezer, we planted it under a tree in a National Forest-- we sang songs of thanks and added crystals into the hole with it.
Mystery 3 is due here pretty soon. I live in a town where many moms make placenta prints and have a placenta reading before doing anything else with it. I feel I would like both of those done and then freeze it for a while..


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## Clarity (Nov 19, 2001)

they wouldn't let me have mine either (biohazard blah blah) luckily I had a quick powwow with the head of L&D when I was admitted (i circled the tissue disposal section and wrote my own instrctions). So I reminded them that they'd agreed. Since DD's twin had died at 22 weeks, I had her remains and both placentas sent for cremation. They complained a bit, but when my first ds was stillborn they "forgot" to do the autopsy - so they went along out of institutional guilt, I think.

Many hospitals have gotten better about remains, but not consistenly so before 20 weeks. In our state home burial is legal, so it's stupid they won't let you take what's yours.

what a placenta reading like? Sounds almost Roman!


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## love2all (Dec 13, 2003)

The placenta readings I have heard about are sort of like astrological forecasts. For example- one friend was given insights and info about the relationship between the dad and child (parents are not together) and it has helped her realize the special tight bond that they have. I mean I know that that is a given but the readings seem to make sense and help explain issue that arise or may arise. Am i explaining anything here? I have major mush brain these days.........i am ready for baby to arrive.........


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## bunny's mama (Nov 19, 2001)

okay, just a little OT here, but if i had a miscarriage or still born baby, there is NO WAY IN HELL i would leave that hospital without the remains. that is just terrible that any grieving family is robbed of being able to bury their baby's remains how they see fit.

i had dd in the hospital and they had a "strict policy" about not taking your placenta home. i said BULLSHIT. we snuck that sucker out in a tupperware inside dh's backpack.

i hate how hospitals act like they own you. the truth is that you are free to do whatever you want, you just have to be really really assertive about it (which you're usually not in the mood for after just giving birth, LOL). i said i would sign any paper or talk to any hospital administrator, but i wasn't leaving that place without my placenta. if they'd told me i couldn't have it, i would've picked up my baby and my palcenta and walked right outta there. luckily, our MW was cool with our taking it, so she's the one who helped us package it all up.


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## merpk (Dec 19, 2001)

Remembering an outrageously hysterically funny thread some time ago titled something like "Who has placenta in their freezer?"

Am thinking it was archived in TAO or some such ... gotta dig around for the link ...


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

Yeah, it's one thing when it's YOUR placenta in the freezer, my talk to my dh - three weeks ago we had FIVE placentas in our freezer, none of them mine. He was having a COW.


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## julie128 (Jan 9, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by Greaseball_
*







T
I hear that most hospitals have a rule of "If we remove it from your body, it's our property." (I guess this does not apply to babies, though some hospitals make you wonder, the way they take them away when they want and make rules about how and when they can be fed!) But if you get your arm amputated there is no way you're taking it home with you. Though I'd like to see that rule changed...
*
My husband's friend had to have his leg amputated. He has its ashes in a box somewhere.


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## tofumama (Jan 20, 2004)

I was able to bring home both dc's placentas, with ds it sat in the freezer for 2 yrs until we moved, then I planted in with a special tree that he picked out, in a ceremony. With dd, my midwife helped me 'sneak' it out of the Hosp. b/c it was biohazard, blah blah blah. I did the same ceremony/tree planting with hers. Sort of off topic, but I was really upset after the fact that they (hosp. staff) took the cord blood. Dd was a preemie, so they didn't leave her attatched until the cord emptied. I was never asked, nor did I agree to donate that cord blood. Since we will use the same Hosp. when we concieve #3, I am going to make a stink about it then...I'm not against donating it, but geez, could you ASK me at least??? (Incidentally, we did 'bank' ds cord blood- my mother is a nurse...)


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

RE: placentas

After each of my four homebirths, I buried them in the ground and planted a rose bush over it.

My DS2 has a white rose bush, and when he was in high school, he would cut a rose off of it and give it to his girlfriend...

I do know of a friend who delivered her babe at home only to be transported for the third stage of labor; the hospital refused to give her the placenta. WTF?! (The hospital sure got even with her - dang you, homebirthing mother...!!)

I heard they use it to sell to drug companies to manufacture synthetic oxytocics/pitocin. Ahhh, the cycle of life...







:


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## Plady (Nov 20, 2001)

I had a homebirth so hospital policies didn't apply but I ate some of my (dd's?) placenta in soup right after birth (freshest meat I've ever had!!







). Dh also had a bite and we fed some of the rindy bits to the dogs and the cat (it was along the lines of the baby bringing the older sib a present from the hospital!).

After that my doula took it home with her and she made it into medicine for me and dd. I still have the capsules which I take when I'm feeling really out of sorts and it helps every time.


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## tofumama (Jan 20, 2004)

Plady, that is so AWESOME!!!!!!


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## mamaroni (Sep 12, 2003)

http://www.geocities.com/virtualbirth/placenta.html

I don't think this link has been posted yet.

I have an acquaintance that dried her placenta and put it in capsules. She has 100s of the capsules now, and takes them occasionally.


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## momto l&a (Jul 31, 2002)

We have two in our freezer, our oldest turned four this past January.









We havent found the right place to bury them.

My parents planted mine under a Walnut tree.


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## Changed (Mar 14, 2004)

I read somewhere a while back, the instruction on makeing a placenta tincture. Basicly you put it in a jar with vodka and sit it in the sun for a few hours and then add some other stuff. I *think*. I is suposed to be great for PPD and a ton of other stuff. They say it should last for a LOOOONG time. Maybe ill try that. My luck, if I buried it the dog would dig it up and eat it! And I coudl never ever eat it!!! I am not one who believes we are in any way related to mammals and can't see any reason to eat it. Maybe there are, I haven't ever looked into it.


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## eilonwy (Apr 3, 2003)

Eli's placenta was small, stiff, gray and obviously infected. I know that it went to the pathology lab for testing; it was probably burned with other biohazardous materials afterwards. From the way my sister described it, I'm glad that I hadn't had my heart set on taking it home because I would have been heartbroken.

Before I had children, I wanted to keep the placenta and bury it under a tree. The thing is, we don't own a house so I'd feel wrong about burying it in our backyard. Coupled with our lack of a freezer, I think we'll just let the hospital dispose of it.


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## lorijds (Jun 6, 2002)

At our birth center, we ask if the mom/couple want to take it home. If not, we send it with the rest of our biohazard. We used to take it to the hospital for incineration....since the placentas were mixed with all the other biohazard material, I doubt that they were sorted out for anything.

But the hospital no longer accepts outside waste, so we contract with a biohazard disposal comapny. They take *all* of our biowaste. Interestingly enough, they don't burn it. They sterilize it, and then bury it?









So I guess it is getting buried one way or another. But I like the idea of donating it to a search and rescue team. We are considered such freaks in the community anyhow, though. I hate the idea of calling up the local sherrifs office and asking if they want our used placentas! I can just seem him rolling his eyes..."...uh, no thanks lady." Well, I'll have to check it out, anyhow.

Lori


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## sharksmum (Dec 31, 2003)

I knew that creepy things were done with placentas at the hospital, so I informed the nurses that I wanted to keep mine. They labelled it and put it in the fridge for me.

We were so anxious to get out of the hospital that we rushed out a couple of hours after dd was born and didn't think about the placenta again for months!

Who knows who found it or what they thought it was when they did! heehee


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## Mamid (Nov 7, 2002)

I was asked if I wanted to do anything with mine cause I asked to look at it - my son's that is.

I didn't.

My daughter's was examined 10 feet from me and I didn't even get a look at it. Apparently there were bits left over.... cause he ripped it out maybe?

My lost one's was cut from him and gods know what was done with it. I think they pathed it but thankfully gave him the dignity to not cut him up to bits.


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

When I gave birth recently the nurse *asked* me if I wanted to keep the placenta! I wasn't intending on it but thought that was really nice that they asked. I did take part of the cord home and they put it in a biohazard bag for me.

Darshani


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