The Rad Placenta

I was recently banned from posting on BWF and personally on Facebook for this placenta picture taken by Seana. I was also warned that next time, pages and profiles might be deleted. There is nothing stating in any Facebook policies that organs are violating any rules. We all know there are many obscene pictures that do violate policies and are never removed.

A placenta though? And a rad one like this one? Come on! That is the Tree of Life. Photography. Art!

Is that a ‘naked’ placenta? Is it showing nipple? Oh no, a ‘graphic’ organ picture! I think this might traumatize or offend someone who never got to see their placenta! (Note: sarcasm)

OK, really though, what IS this placenta? What exactly does it do?

“The placenta has been described as a pancake-shaped organ that attaches to the inside of the uterus and is connected to the fetus by the umbilical cord. The placenta produces pregnancy-related hormones, including chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), estrogen, and progesterone.

The placenta is responsible for working as a trading post between the mother’s and the baby’s blood supply. Small blood vessels carrying the fetal blood run through the placenta, which is full of maternal blood. Nutrients and oxygen from the mother’s blood are transferred to the fetal blood, while waste products are transferred from the fetal blood to the maternal blood, without the two blood supplies mixing.

The placenta is expelled from the uterus in a process called the after-birth.”

Let’s take a look at some more pictures of this amazing organ. One that gave every single person reading this LIFE!

Here is Hillary with her son (and his little feet) still attached to the placenta (seen above) and his cord.

Nurturing…

Here is the placenta print for the above placenta…

A very large placenta for one baby…

A very large placenta for one baby!

Fascinating! Examining the placenta…

“The placenta from my son born 8-19-09  11lbs 13oz, 24.5 inches…19 days past my “due date” The placenta weighed just over 2 lbs!!  It even had a true knot in the cord.  The cord was so thick and healthy that my midwife did not have a tool large enough to clamp it off.   Here the midwife is showing my 10 y/o daughter the different parts of the placenta.  This was my third birth, second home water birth.” -Stacey

“This is from my son Draven’s Placenta born Jan14 2012. We had prints as well as capsules & a tincture made from it.” -Amanda

 

Here is a sweet baby boy still attached to his placenta…

After a UBAC (Unassisted Birth After Cesarean)…

Lily’s Rad Placenta pictures has been removed from FB 3 times!

Taken by Jessica with One Tree Photography

Placenta Benefits

“There is also a growing trend of using the placenta to facilitate the woman’s postpartum recovery through ingestion of the placenta, known as placentophagy. The placenta is incredibly nutritious and contains many of the vitamins, minerals and hormones that a mother’s body needs to adequately recover from the pregnancy and birth. Women who take part in this practice feel that they have a faster recovery from the pregnancy and birth, have more energy and increased milk production, and often do not experience any postnatal mood instability such as the “baby blues,” or postpartum depression.”

*Thank you to all the BWF Moms who sent in placenta pictures!

83 Comments

  • jennifer schlager

    those pics are so cool, i never got to really see the placentas from any of my three births, just briefly with my second one. its cool the prints that were made and the colors of the placenta are fascinating. thank you so much for sharing these pics 🙂

  • Jessie

    Gorgeous! 🙂 I see nothing offensive about these pictures, at all. As a matter of fact I have a picture of my daughter’s placenta on Facebook. If someone is bothered I tell them they don’t have to look at it.

  • Tasha

    There is nothing wrong with these pictures.. Has no one ever posted a heart or brain on FB? Im guessing somewhere they have & FB didnt think anything of it!!
    I love the Placenta Print & will have to put this on the “must do” list!!! Beautiful!!!

  • Jennifer

    Darn it, now I wish I had taken pictures of my placenta!!!!! I watched as it was encapsulated, and it was so cool to have each part described!

  • claudia koelndorfer

    First let me say that I think the photo’s are awesome and beautiful if only because is shows where human life begins. As for being traumitised by your photos?? NO BLOODY WAY. As for being OUTRAGED by Facebooks threats to you? SURE BLOODY AM. Do you have an address of this Facebook team so I and my many female friends on FB can then begin sending the team letter’s stating our displeasure in trying to ban you. If you have an address then please send me this in my hotmail email thank you. Regards Claudia. You go girl. claudia.koelndorfer@hotmail.com

  • Hillary

    Thank you for sharing my placenta picture, and the one of my son’s feet and cord. I must have more understanding friends because mine have yet to be taken down. I’m considering making the placenta picture my default as a comeback to FB, though 😛

  • Kasey

    I didn’t get to see mine when my daughter was born, and honestly I didn’t even have a good understanding of what it was! I thought my sister was crazy when she was describing to me what it looked like. I don’t find these pictures in the least bit offensive, it’s fascinating!

  • Imke Kuhn

    So amazing and wonderful! I love the pic where the baby is still attached to the placenta! I think everyone who delete pictures like these should be ashamed!
    (Ohne Placenta würde es den Menschen auch nicht geben. Niemand muss die Bilder schön finden, es ist ja Geschmackssache, aber sie sind das pure, wundervolle Leben! Vielleicht versteht hier ja jemand deutsch 😉 )

  • Erika

    If you didn’t know what it was, the first picture really does lool like some kind of art work. I never thought of doing a Placenta Print, but think I will when we have this LO (our first) and any other children that we may be blessed with.

  • bonnie

    very facinating, i wish i had of done something like this for my girls. My 3 year old daughter just walked past the computer and commented on the placenta saying ” oh scary mummy scary” lol i think shes a bit young to understand lol

  • Brooke

    Thank you for sharing. I was so upset by how fast they removed my placenta from my hospital room with my first birth. I did nort have plans for it, as at the time I did not know what I know now, but I had wanted to see it. It had been the life force for my child, it had been our first connection, it had been a part of us both. i was outraged whn I asked to see it and they just looked dumbfounded and said it had been removed. My friend even went to “look for it.” I was shocked they had never even asked me if I wanted to see it. Why so callous about something they had been so concerned about monitoring during the end of my pregnancy?
    The second time, I saw it, got pictures and encapsulated it. my doula brought me what was left of it and it is in my freezer now…9 months later. It is time for us to accept and celebrate the glorious nature and workings of a Mother’s body instead of shy away and ignore it. Again thank you for sharing the beauty.

  • Becky

    I didn’t get to get as good of a look as I would’ve liked to with either of my previous births (both in the hospital), but looking at these pics reminded me of when I gave birth to my son and I had about 5 family members and friends waiting outside the door of the delivery room. My husband had the placenta in the pan thingy and ran out of the room and said “do you guys wanna see the placenta?” Apparently they were all like “ooohh!” It’s quite intriguing. Lol!

  • Lynn

    The sad thing is, one of your friends must have complained to FB as they don’t check photos otherwise. I think placentas are cool. I asked my OB to put it aside and we had a good chat about it when I was showered 🙂

  • SCONGD

    Awesome pics!!! Never even saw pics before. It is amazing what us women can create! I ask for mine back at the hospital, but they didn’t give it back to me or show it to me. 🙁 I wanted to plant a tree with it. If I have a next one I will want to do the capsules and plant a tree. Unfortunately I have to go to a hospital.

    • Melanie

      SCONGD – If you’re in the US, they have to let you have it! There may be some “hospital policy” BS to get through, but it is legally yours. If you push it, figure out what papers they want signed or whatever, you should be able to get it!

  • E Woughter

    Thank you for sharing, these photos are amazing !! People never get to see them and they are not looked on as something to be seen, by most, however…if it were not for a placenta the miracle of life would not exist ! Blesssings~E

  • Jackie Dives

    To SCONGD – I’m from Canada, where hospitals almost always let women take home their placenta. I really wish all women could to what they wish with their placentas. If you feel strongly about keeping it, maybe have a discussion with your care provider and/or the hospital and insist on it.

    Something I suggest to my clients if they are interested in both burying their placenta and planting a tree, as well as ingesting it, is to use the placenta for ingesting, and burying the umbilical cord.

  • Sharyl

    Thank you for the pictures! The placenta is so amazing and beautiful! We didn’t use ours for anything but donated it to our midwife who has a deal with the local police department. They use them to train cadaver dogs to find people!!! Som many purposes!

  • Elaine Dixon

    I love this! I never got to see or even had the chance to tell the hospital I wanted to do anything with my placenta. I will be doing anything and everything to birth my next child at home or have a water birth. Thank you for sharing all the great information, it give us that had a bad hospital birth new ways.

  • Rhee

    Oh neat, though I don’t think I could stomach knowingly eating placenta in any form. I wish I had gotten more than a passing glimpse of my daughers placenta before my OB sent it to pathology with she and all the nurses talking about how it was the worst placenta they had ever seen and also the reason for my emergency induction. One of my delivery nurses had helped deliver me when I was born so thats over 20 years of placentas to compare it to…

  • Mandy P

    Honestly, before I started following this blog the idea of doing anything with the placenta grossed me out. Now I am learning more about the birth process and hope that when my next baby comes around I can encapsulate my placenta. Thank you for this community! It has been a gift to me:)

  • Rachel

    I asked with all 3 of my children to see my placenta after. It eased my mind to know that it was large, thick and colorful. I didnt want to wonder if that part of my baby and I was ok. I am expecting in July and am wondering where or who would encapsulate mine for me…Ive always wanted to ingest it afterwards. Please let me know if there is anywhere in Utah I can have this done.

  • Iriemama09

    Thank you for posting these pics! I was very involved in my birth, but I didn’t get a chance to see my placenta until after it ruptured. So interesting to see and incredibly in line with the “Tree of life”.

  • Kelly V

    Very cool thanks for sharing….. it is amazing how the human body works and very interesting to see the placenta…. I never got to see the underside of mine but did get a chance to investigate it afterward.

  • Sassyblackwhiskers

    When I was in high school our home economics teacher who taught a parenting class brought in her sister-in-law’s placenta (she had attended the birth). She gave us the choice if we wanted to look at it or not. Even then I thought it was really cool. Keeping in mind this was 31 years ago, imagine the outrage if a teacher did that now. I never saw the placenta after either of my births. I was too engrossed in the baby on my tummy. Now I wish I had seen at least one of them.

  • Melanie

    Newer poster here. First, pictures are amazing and I too agree there is nothing wrong with them. Second, It is really unfortunate that you got the “banned” message from FB for it but I wanted to point out that it was most likely NOT FB that found (and subsequently) banned your photo. That is why people on here have commented that they all have pictures up, or like me, breastfeeding pictures. The most likely situations is that you were “reported” and FB sends their robotic messages out without ever even looking at said picture. So someone, willfully tried to get this photo removed and you banned. Reporting is super easy and that is why so many of us Mom bloggers get our FB pages put on lock down and have to fight to get them returned.

  • Stacey Voller

    Hi there, the pic’s and blog are amazing thank you for sharing! My husband and I Are planing a lotus birth where as you probably already know the placenta stays attached until it drys out, than will be planted under a tree to grow as our child does! I was wondering if someone could tell me what paint they used to create the placenta images please, I’d love my child’s own picture in their room long before they can create their first by hand!

  • Sharai Rae Miller

    My daughter makayla’s placenta (born 03/26/3012) is sitting in our freezer. We plan on planting it once we buy our house! 😉

  • Goretti Baño DeMurcia

    I used my baby`s pacenta to plant a tree in my garden. Now my boy Asier and the tree are 4 years old and both so beautifull.

    We need to go back on so many things, we have become way to mechanical in too many aspects.

  • Alicia

    I never looked at my placentas (i have two girls) after giving birth because was uneducated. (i didn’t even know what it was, i just knew i needed to push it out) after researching, and having a friend who is a souls i will be encapsulating my next placenta, as well as doing an at home birth with no drugs! 🙂 i got a chance to do a photo shoot today (I’m baby/kid photographer) of a placenta encapsulation today and was not grossed out at all (weird for me). The photos turned out awesome! I’m afraid to share then with my friends on Facebook…as they might think they are not appropriate for social networing, but I’d be glad to share them on this sure if interested. It was her first encapsulation, and write the experience! I even got a chance to hold it and analyze it…so much detail, all the veins were just…fascinating to look at, and photograph!!

  • Leonie

    AMAZING PHOTOS. I AM 54 YEARS OF AGE…. AND HAVE GIVEN BIRTH TO THREE BEAUTIFUL BOYS. I NOW KNOW MUCH MORE ABOUT THE PLACENTA THAN I EVER HAVE. THANK YOU FOR SUCH AN INFORMATIVE AND AMAZING ARTICLE.

  • Brie

    I have been toying around with the idea of having another baby. I never really considered ingesting my placenta in any form, but I have been seeing so many women who do this!! BWF, when you have the time, do you think you could do a post about consuming the placenta and the various ways it is done. I know you grazed the surface of this topic in this very post, but I would love to see something a little more in depth…. especially for those unassisted home birth mama’s who need to know how to encapsulate it, preserve it in tincture form, or make a smoothie for themselves. It could have a recipe section for placenta’s 🙂

  • Nicole

    What if a placenta wasn’t described as a “pancake shaped organ” but instead pancakes were described as “placenta shaped cakes”? Just a thought 😉 I love the article and shared with all our Honey Bump Fans!

  • Kong Choon Yen

    Amazing pictures. Even the little girl is fascinated by the look of the placenta. I guess the thought of placenta as an organ make people to take a step back. Thanks for sharing this amazing organ and the birth story.

  • Shari

    Loved the placenta lesson Karen gave my kids at my son’s birth, and personally, I found that beautiful organ fascinating! I saved it in the freezer for … longer than I will say … until we lost it in a prolonged power outage. Wish I had used it somehow.

  • Gwen

    This is what I did with my second child’s placenta:

    http://themandalajourney.com/2012/10/29/stella/

    I encapsulated the first time and wasn’t crazy about it, but wanted to do something special to honor my home birth and my daughter. I gave my doula – the amazing artist responsible for this — the go ahead to paint the actual placenta and get creative.

    The original is hanging on my wall and is a great conversation piece. I love to let people admire it for a while before I tell them what it is. The reactions are priceless.

  • Emily Jelen

    20 years ago, after the birth of my daughter I took mine home, cooked it and ate it. It was beautiful to look at but didn’t taste too good! I have since become a midwife and I’m still in awe of every one I see – although I’m not tempted to eat one again!

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