The Tree of Life aka the Naked Placenta

I was once banned from posting on the Birth Without Fear Facebook page and personally on Facebook for the placenta picture below. 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)

Okay, 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…

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 January 14, 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 have been removed from Facebook three 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 Birth Without Fear Moms who sent in placenta pictures!