Stuff Homebirthers Like #3: Placentas

Most people consider it a bloody uteral organ that goes straight into a biohazard bin. Homebirthers call it a lifeforce, the tree of life, or an all nourishing source of energy and are more likely to stick it in a blender.

Homebirthers adore their placentas maybe even more than the babies themselves. We wouldn’t dream of throwing it out with the rest of the birth detritus. Homebirthers spend months thinking about what they’ll do with their placenta once it’s out. Freeze it? Encapsulate it? Slice it up and put it in a lasagna? Bury it beneath a tree? The possibilities are endless and include everything but throwing it in a dumpster, which is illegal in most states anyway.

We swap placenta recipes. We share referrals for people who dry it up so we can pop placenta pills for months after its emergence. Sometimes we take the bloody mass and make art prints from it. Then, when someone asks about the Jackson Pollock-esque painting on our living room wall, it gives us another chance to talk about our homebirth (see #2).